


Excursions

by Reader115



Series: Promise series [7]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-03 12:18:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 51,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6610444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader115/pseuds/Reader115
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Begins 3 years after 'Replacement' - The Hamato clan take some planned (and unplanned) trips. 6th story in a continuation series. Warning: Fluff and T-cest. I don't own the turtles.</p><p>Originally posted on FF site from Aug 29, 2015 - Sep 25, 2015</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Leonardo, I want you to tell me how much you love me."

Leo's eyes sparked in amusement as he watched Raphael crawl up their bed so that his body was soon covered by the emerald turtle.

"You're OK," Leo said, shrugging before he ran his hands from Raph's shoulders down to his arms as Raph settled on top of him.

Raph growled at him as he lowered his face to bite into Leo's neck, which only spurred a laugh out of Leo.

"I had to ask Miwa _and the rabbit_ for favors, Leo," Raph said, releasing Leo's neck as he felt Leo's fingers move back up his arms. "So you had better think I'm more than just _OK_."

"Well," Leo said, his eyes sliding to one of their bedroom walls as he pretended to be in deep concentration, "you do have your good qualities." His breath hitched and he felt a shiver run through him as he felt Raphael lick his way up his neck to his jawline.

"What kind of good qualities?" Raph's suddenly husky voice asked as he traced Leo's jawline with his tongue.

"Well, you have a real talent," Leo said, pausing to gasp as Raph moved his tongue back down his neck, "in the kitchen. I certainly don't starve with you around."

Raphael lifted his head and glared at Leo while slowly shaking his head back and forth. "Anythin else?" he asked, growling again.

"Um," Leo said, tilting his head to the side to continue to look as though he was still thinking hard. "It seems like you know what you're doing down at the garage."

Raph narrowed his eyes at him. He scooted himself down Leo's body and began tracing his tongue over Leo's plastron which earned him another gasp from Leo. If Leo wanted to play, he'd play. "And?" he asked.

"You, um," Leo said, squirming under Raph's tongue as he tried to keep an innocent thoughtful look on his face. "You're also pretty strong, which is handy when I need something heavy moved. Or a jar opened."

Raph shook his head again and moved further down Leo's body until his tongue finally trailed over the bulge forming in Leo's lower plastron. He smirked to himself when he heard a moan from Leo. "So my good qualities are cookin, workin on engines and liftin heavy shit for ya?" He slid his tongue over Leo's slit again before glaring up at Leo's falsely innocent face.

"You also have a really big-," Leo stopped to moan once again as he felt Raph's tongue swipe over him encouragingly as he spoke, "-a really big collection of chocolate hidden in the kitchen. I pilfer through it when you're at work."

Raphael growled again and then quickly flipped himself off Leo's lower plastron and landed on his shell next to him on their bed. He reached over to his bedside table, picked up one of his motorcycle magazines and began flipping through it.

Leo wanted to laugh at Raph's expression as he glared at the pages of his magazine, but the throbbing in his lower plastron centered his focus on the emerald body next to him instead. He moved quickly as well and straddled Raphael before pulling the magazine out of his hands and tossing it to the floor. His mouth greedily covered Raphael's mouth as a churr rose up this throat when he began rubbing himself against Raph's lower plastron.

Raph sat upright and gripped Leo's arms tightly as Leo now sat straddling his lap. He kissed Leo back before pulling back to growl, "What _else_ , Fearless?"

Leo couldn't keep up his fake thoughtful expression any longer. His blue eyes had darkened with lust and his mouth reached forward to lightly bite into Raph's neck. "This neck, Raph," he whispered before pulling back to focus on Raph's face which was quickly losing its scowl. "Those green eyes. This nose," he bumped his nose into Raph's before leaning forward to kiss him again. "The way your lips move when we kiss. That talented tongue."

A churr rose up Raph's throat and he quickly growled and pushed himself forward so that Leo's shell hit the bed and he loomed over him. He pressed his mouth to Leo's again and kissed him hard before he began trailing his mouth down Leo's plastron once again.

"I wasn't finished," Leo rasped out as he squirmed under Raph's tongue. "That was just the good qualities on your head."

Raph chuckled before pressing his tongue into Leo's slit, forcing him to immediately drop down. "Tell me later," he said before pulling Leo into his mouth.

"Raph," Leo moaned out, grabbing handfuls of blanket beneath his hands.

Raph's fingers gripped Leo's thighs and he spread them further apart to make himself more comfortable between them. Leo rolled his head back and moaned out Raphael's name as he felt one of Raph's arms shift so he could press a finger into his entrance.

Leo moved his hands to the sides of Raph's face so that he could gently hold him still and begin to slowly move his own hips back and forth towards Raph's face. He watched as Raph's eyes lifted to meet his own intense blue ones and felt Raph release another churr. Leo churred in response and then began pulling on Raph's shoulders. "Come here," he gasped out. "Come up here."

Raph released him and quickly climbed up Leo's body to begin kissing him before he pressed himself into Leo's entrance. He felt Leo wrap his arms around his shoulders and pull his face even closer while pushing his tongue into Raph's mouth. Leo moaned into his mouth as he reached down and began stroking Leo at the same pace that his hips were moving. Leo threw his head back and Raph heard another churr as Leo reached his release. Raphael smiled at the sight and reached his own release after a few more thrusts. He collapsed down on top of Leo, swiped his tongue across Leo's neck and watched as another shiver ran through Leonardo.

They stayed there, happily panting for a few moments. Raphael smiled when he felt Leo's fingers trace over the edges of his shell.

"What favors did you ask of Miwa and Usagi?" Leo asked, thinking back to what Raphael had mentioned earlier. Raphael no longer had any trouble talking to Miwa, but Leo knew he typically avoided speaking to Usagi. The tense relationship he sensed between the two of them bothered Leo, but he realized he'd never taken any steps to try to fix it.

"It's a surprise," Raph mumbled into Leo's neck.

"Then why bring it up?" Leo said, scowling at the side of Raph's head.

"Cause you love surprises," Raph said, trying to hide a smile.

"No, I _hate_ surprises."

Raphael laughed. "That's what I said."

Leo grunted and rolled Raphael off of him. He glared over at his favorite turtle. "Tell me."

Raph smiled and shook his head. "It's a good one, too," Raph said as he looped his arms around Leo's shell and pulled him into his side before closing his eyes.

"Don't you dare go to sleep without telling me," Leo said, struggling against the tight embrace Raph had captured him in.

Raph shushed him. "Sleep time, Fearless."

Leo growled at him and watched a smirk cross the emerald face.

"Aishiteru, Leo," Raph whispered. He waited a moment and when he didn't get a response from Leo, he cracked one eye open to look down at him. He laughed outright when he was met by Leo's fierce blue-eyed glare. He gave Leo's shell another squeeze as he leaned down to kiss the glare off Leo's face.

Finally, Leo softened and settled himself closer to Raph's side. "Love you too. Jerk."

Raph huffed out a laugh and let his eyes close again. He waited until he felt Leo's body completely relax against him and for Leo's breathing to even out before he let himself go to sleep as well.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh, great, you guys are finished," Sadie said, looping her arm through Miwa's arm as soon as she exited the dojo after morning training.

Miwa tensed for a second and then forced herself to relax enough to let her sister-in-law drag her into the stairwell. She'd been back with the clan for eight years and still wasn't completely used to being touched.

"We hired a new scientist to work in the first floor lab and I want you to come with me to welcome him on his first day," Sadie said, dragging Miwa down the stairs.

"Why me?" Miwa asked.

"Well, Donnie can't do it," Sadie said.

"But I don't know anything about the lab, remember? You and Donatello remind me of that very important fact every time I dare to step foot in your precious lab," Miwa said, scowling. "While practically smacking my hands away from stuff," she muttered.

"No need for you to touch anything down here either," Sadie said, grinning at her as she opened the door to the first floor lab. "I just want another face with me to welcome him to the company."

"Fine," Miwa said, rolling her eyes at Sadie as she headed into the lab where she immediately bumped into someone. That someone's hands reached out and grabbed her upper arms to steady her. She looked up and found herself staring into the gray eyes of the man she'd run into.

"Gotcha," he said, grinning at her.

Her eyes moved up to his striking red hair and she only managed to nod at him as she realized he was still holding onto her arms.

"Great, your security code got you in the lab no problem I see," Sadie said. "We're so happy you're joining the team."

Miwa watched the red-haired man drag his eyes away from her to look at Sadie. He released her arms and reached a hand out to shake hands with Sadie.

"I'm very glad to be here, Dr. Hamato," he said.

"Please, call me Sadie. And this is Miwa Hamato. Miwa, this is Dr. Sam Chaplin."

Miwa licked her lips as Sam grinned as he looked back to her. He extended his hand to shake one of her hands as well.

"Very nice to meet you, Miwa," Sam said, squeezing her fingers. "Your last name is also Hamato, huh?"

Miwa nodded as she replayed the sound of her name coming out of his mouth. "Donatello is my brother," she said, finally finding her voice.

"Can't wait to meet him either," Sam said. "So are you a scientist too?"

Miwa laughed. "No. In fact, I'm not technically allowed to touch anything in the labs." She sent a light scowl to Sadie.

Sam leaned in towards her. "Well, I won't tell if you won't," he said, winking at her.

Miwa felt something squirm in her stomach and took a tiny step backwards. "Well, it was nice to meet you. I have to get to an appointment," she said, pointing awkwardly at the door to the stairwell.

"Be sure to come back and visit," Sam said. "I'd hate to start talking to myself being the only one down here all the time."

Miwa smiled awkwardly again and headed for the stairwell.

"Be right back," Sadie said to Sam and quickly followed Miwa into the stairwell. "Wait, where are you going?" she asked Miwa before she could get up all the way up to the second floor. "You don't like him? Are your ninja senses going off? Is there something wrong with him?"

"Ninja senses?" Miwa asked, raising an eyebrow at Sadie. "You had me meet him while I'm completely covered in sweat from morning training!"

Sadie's worried expression was quickly replaced by a wry grin. "You didn't care about how you looked before we went in the lab."

"Shut up," Miwa said, turning to stomp up the stairs.

"Have fun at your _appointment_!" Sadie called up after her. She smiled and went back into the first floor lab to show Sam around.

* * *

 Leo came up behind Raphael as he was pouring himself some coffee and trapped him against the counter between his arms.

"Are you going to tell me your secret already?" Leo asked, pressing his plastron against Raph's shell. He leaned forward and kissed the back of Raph's neck.

Raphael tried and failed to fight off the inevitable shiver he got anytime Leo went anywhere near the back of his neck.

"No, ya dork. Get offa me."

Leo pressed his plastron harder into Raph's shell in response. "Usagi will be here in a little while to drop off the bunnies. Maybe I'll just ask him."

Raph smirked. "He's not comin."

Leo released Raphael. "What?"

"I canceled yer trainin with the bunnies today."

Leo narrowed his eyes.

"Surprise?"

"No practice today?" Machi asked, coming into the kitchen.

"Why did you cancel practice?" Leo asked.

"You'll find out later," Raphael said, taking a sip of his coffee. He poured Machi some cereal and placed it in front of her.

He was saved from Leo's fierce blue gaze by a knock on their door. Miwa quickly slipped inside and sat down at their kitchen island next to Machi. She gave her adorable ten-year old niece a quick hug.

"What'd Sadie want?" Raph asked, side-stepping away from Leo's scowling face.

"She wanted me to help welcome their new first floor lab scientist," Miwa said, ducking her head into the cup of coffee Raphael handed her.

Leo pulled his eyes away from glaring at Raph when he heard the strange tone of Miwa's voice.

"Hamato Miwa, are you blushing?" Leo asked, staring at his sister's red face.

"I've never seen you blush before," Raph said, tipping his head at her. "Even when you _should_ blush, like remember that time in training when I flipped you across the room after you tried a sneak attack?" Raph asked. He caught Leo ducking his face to hide a smile and could no longer hold back his own laughter. "That would've been a good time to blush. Remember that?"

Miwa glared at Raphael as his rumbling laugh shook his shoulders. "No, I do not remember that," she said, sternly.

"Yeah, me either," Raph said, choking on his laughter as he walked out of the room.

Leo grinned as he heard Raph's open laughter fill their bedroom.

"What's so funny?" Machi asked.

"Nothing, sweetheart," Miwa answered.

"So you liked him?" Leo asked.

"I only spoke to him for a minute."

Leo shrugged. "I think that's all it takes sometimes."

Miwa ducked her head again but turned to say good morning to Akito as he sleepily entered the kitchen.

"You feeling ok?" Leo asked him. "You never sleep this late."

"I was up late working on a project," Akito said, sitting next to his Aunt Miwa. She tried to hand him her coffee mug but Leo's hand blocked him from actually taking it.

Leo glared at Miwa as he handed Akito some orange juice. "You'll stunt his growth."

"He's already as tall as me," Miwa said. "I can't handle my little nephew getting any taller. Give. Him. The. Coffee."

Machi giggled while Akito happily drank his orange juice.

"I'm sure I'll wake up once we start training," Akito said.

"Apparently, we're not having training today," Leo said to him.

"And do you hear how deep his sweet little voice has gotten?" Miwa asked.

"I'll be in my room, then," Akito said, eager to get away from his Aunt Miwa's scrutiny of his ongoing transition through puberty.

"I still don't understand why I can't go watch Shadow's soccer game," Machi said, suddenly. "She invited us. She wants her family there."

Leo sighed silently. Machi was smart trying to pull the family card with him. But they'd been over this a few times already. He knew Machi kept bringing it up because she really wanted to go but he hated having to repeatedly tell her no.

"Shadow doesn't understand why we can't go either."

"Machi, you understand that Shadow is a human and we are not, right?"

She crossed her arms and scowled but nodded at him. Miwa reached over and rubbed one of her shoulders.

"And we live in a human world. We can't just go watch a soccer game."

"It's not fair," Machi said.

Leo nodded again. "I wish you could go. Maybe we can find a nearby building and watch from a rooftop?"

Machi slipped down from her stool. "It's not the same," she said before leaving the kitchen.

Leo exchanged a look with Miwa before he narrowed his eyes on his sister suddenly.

"What?" she asked.

"I hear you and Raphael recently had a conversation where he asked you for a favor."

"Don't try pulling that leader turtle crap on me," she said, smiling. "My lips are sealed." She stood up and began to head towards the exit. "I'm going to have breakfast with Father. I'll see you guys later."

"Why will you see us later?" Leo asked.

Miwa smiled again as Leo followed her to the door. "It's a secret," she said before she quickly slipped out.

Leo turned and found Raph leaning against their bedroom doorway, smirking at him.

* * *

 Raphael thought it was kind of fun having a secret that was driving Leo crazy. But since he didn't want Leo to actually kill him, he wasn't dumb enough to also tell Leo that _everyone_ in the clan knew the secret already. He was already on edge with nerves and excitement all day waiting for it to finally be dark enough outside so they could finally get moving.

"Time to go, Fearless," he called out to Leo from the living room. He wasn't sure what Leo had been doing but his absence from the main rooms had given Raph a chance to pack up what he needed from the kitchen. Ninja skills or no, he'd had a really hard time packing up what he wanted to bring all day without Leo spotting him.

Akito and Machi appeared from their rooms, each with a backpack slung over their shoulders. Leo appeared as well and narrowed his eyes at his children when he realized they clearly knew what was going on. His eyes moved to Raphael who was organizing a few bags by their apartment door.

"Where are we going?" Leo asked, his tone icy.

Raphael glanced over at him. "Stop pouting. Yer gonna like it. Come help me carry this stuff down to the shellraiser." He began picking up some of the bags and realized Leo wasn't moving. "Akito and Machi, why don't you run next door and see if Shadow and everyone else is ready to go."

Akito hesitated when he saw how upset his dad looked. But Machi grabbed his hand and dragged him out the door.

Once they were gone, Raph crossed the room to Leo and looped his arms around his shell. "Do you really want me to tell you when yer already this close to findin out?"

"Everyone _else_ already knows?"

Raph nodded. "Yes. They're comin too. But I really did all of this for you." He bumped his nose into Leo's nose. "Its yer birthday surprise."

Leo felt himself softening but continued to scowl at Raph's pleading face.

Raphael tightened his hold around Leo and leaned forward to kiss the side of his face before whispering, "I know I only mentioned this to ya yesterday, but I've been plannin it for months."

Leo stiffened. "Months?" he asked. "How did I not notice you planning something for months?"

"Cause I did it while I was at the garage," Raph said, shrugging. "And the only favor I asked from the rabbit was that he and the bunnies come with because I knew Akito would like it if Violet came too." He kissed the side of Leo's face again. "Now, have I shared enough secrets with yer _stubborn ass_ to get ya to get in the damn car already?" he growled.

Leo looked into Raph's eyes and let a dorky grin cross his face. "This is for my birthday?"

"Let's go," Raph said, smiling back at him as he pushed him towards the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they reached their sewer parking lot, Leo nodded a quick greeting to Usagi and the bunnies and then did his best to ignore how his entire family was grinning at him as they piled into various vehicles and took off. He shot Raphael a questioning look when he realized they weren't leaving the sewer tunnels. Raph managed to ignore him for the most part and pretty soon everyone was parking and unloading the cars. In the sewer.

"No more questions," Raph said to him. "Just grab a couple bags and follow me."

They left their vehicles there and the large group climbed up to a manhole cover and out into the dark night. They walked on and Leo tried to keep his mouth shut as they were getting alarmingly close to the airport, where, dark outside or not, just about a million people were certain to be.

Raphael wanted to grab Leo's hand and drag him along faster but the bags they were both carrying prevented him from doing so. So instead he started talking. He kept his tone of voice dry as he tried to get Leo to visibly calm down. "Hey, Leo, did you know that the Foot clan has their own private jet? And that Miwa's pilot, a Foot clan ninja, was convinced that he should park the jet over here by the airport border so we could all climb in away from the other large groups of people?"

Leo raised his eyes and sure enough, there was a jet sitting and waiting for them. His eyes widened as he looked back to Raphael. "We're flying?"

"I call a window seat!" Mikey said, sprinting ahead of them and quickly climbing the stairs to enter the aircraft.

Raph deposited the bags he'd been carrying on the side of the jet where a few additional Foot were waiting to load them into the underbelly. Then he pulled Leo up into the aircraft and plopped him down in a window seat as well before he went to make sure all kids made it onboard and all the bags were stowed away correctly. He shared a grin with Master Splinter and other family members as he passed them and even gave Miwa a big bear hug to thank her for the use of the jet before settling down in the seat next to Leo.

Leo had been twisted around in his seat to check on Machi and Shadow behind them but turned to Raph when he joined him. "Are you going to tell me how long the flight is?" Leo asked him.

Raph grinned at him. He knew Leo still didn't like knowing all the details about their trip but at least he could see excitement in Leo's eyes. "About two to three hours," he answered as he pushed the armrest up between them and pulled Leo into his side.

Leo rested against Raph's shoulder and listened to the excited chatter of his family as the jet engines roared to life. He shifted in his seat as the cabin lights dimmed so that he could look out the window as he felt the aircraft lift itself up off the runway and into the air. They had flown before thanks to many of Donnie's inventions. But nothing like this. He felt Raph lean over him to also watch out the window as the bright lights of the city grew smaller and smaller below them until they were literally jetting off into the night sky.

He leaned his face over and captured Raphael's lips with his own. He met Raph's eyes in the dark and whispered, "Thank you, Raphie."

Raphael smiled and pulled Leo back into his side. "You ain't seen nothin yet," he whispered back.

* * *

 They landed in a field. Leo had spent the remainder of the trip tucked into Raph's side and now he fleetingly wondered if he should've been trying to stare into the darkness to try to figure out where they were going. But one look at Raphael's bright, excited face and he decided to stop worrying so much. The entire clan plus Usagi and the bunnies were here. Everyone was together. Everyone was excited. Time to relax.

Everyone unloaded their bags from the jet and they followed Raphael as he led them across the field. It was pretty windy but soon Leo could hear what he was certain was the sound of water and, sure enough, they climbed a hill and the ocean greeted them on the other side. The full moon gave them some illumination as the kids all dropped their gear and sprinted towards the waves.

"Feet only, Shadow! Not your whole body!" April called after her daughter as she watched her run off with her fox and rabbit playmates.

"Are we camping here?" Leo asked. He smiled as he watched Machi splash her brother.

"Nope," Raphael said, as he pulled Leo into the softer sand and started to walk down the beach. The rest of the clan followed, including the kids when they saw the adults on the move.

Leo had to admit, his own excitement was growing by the minute. They'd never been anywhere near a real beach before.

"Although I had pictured camping when I first found this _deserted island_ , but some of the other family members," he glanced back at the group, "didn't like that idea. So everyone pitched in some funds and we had this built." He stopped walking and nodded over to Donnie.

Donatello pulled a remote out of his bag and hit a button which turned on the outside lights of a rather large, beautiful blue beach house.

Leo stared. There were three stories and wrap-around porches on each level. He began to feel light-headed as he realized what Raphael had been telling him. His voice was tight when he said, "The entire family pitched in and you guys created-,"

"A Hamato family beach house," Raph said. "Completely secluded. Rooms for everyone."

"Gourmet kitchen," Mikey said, coming up on the other side of Leo.

"And just for fun," Donnie said, coming up next to them as well, "a really high-tech security system."

Leo's eyes began to burn as he realized how hard everyone must've been working to not only keep this huge secret but to create something so massively wonderful. He dropped his bags and wrapped his arms around Raph's shoulders to pull him into a tight hug. "You were right," he whispered. "This is a good surprise."

Raphael hugged him in return before lifting his head and saying to the group, "Everyone quit yer worryin, he likes it!"

Leo elbowed Raphael as they heard laughter and cheering from the rest of the group. Then sand flew as they all began to run towards the house. The first and second floors had bedrooms while the third floor had a large open space with the kitchen and lots of places to sit and stare out at the ocean. He got a quick tour which included sets of bunk beds in two separate rooms on the first floor for the boys and girls before everyone dispersed and said goodnight.

Raph had barely closed them into their own room before his shell was shoved up against the door as Leo pressed against him and fiercely covered his mouth with a kiss.

* * *

 Raphael was surprised to wake up alone the next morning since he usually noticed when Leo left their bed even if he refused to get out of bed as ridiculously early as Leo. He figured it made sense though that he was tired enough to sleep through Leo's departure after the stress involved in planning this trip the past few months _and_ adding in Leo's expressive and _physical_ thank you the night before. He climbed out of their bed and noticed their door to the deck was open. He yawned as he walked out on the second floor deck and found Leo out there leaning on the railing and staring out at the ocean as the rising sun painted the sky pink.

 _Right there_ , Raphael thought to himself. _Right there is the relaxed Leo I wanted to see_.

"This is absolutely wonderful. And gorgeous, Raphael," Leo said before Raphael was even by his side. He waited until Raph leaned on the railing next to him before leaning over to kiss him and say, "Just like you."

"Sap," Raph said, smiling at him.

"How long are we here?"

"A week," Raph said, turning his eyes out to the ocean. "Hopefully we can pull off longer trips in the future but for now one week was all everyone could spare from work."

Leo nodded as another one of the second floor bedroom doors opened and Donnie slipped out and joined them on the deck. They nodded to each other but didn't say anything as Donnie sat in one of the rocking chairs.

"I've been standing out here for almost an hour watching the waves," Leo said. "I don't think I could ever get tired of this view. Isn't it amazing how they just keep rolling in no matter what?"

Raph reached over and ran his hand down Leo's arm as he watched the waves as well.

"Did you know that waves are created by winds? And the sun and moon control the tides? And -,"

"Don," Raph growled.

Donnie chuckled and settled back to rock in his chair and enjoy the view with his brothers.

"Have I thanked you for this?" Leo asked Raphael.

Raph smiled back at him for a moment before the smile turned to a wry grin as he thought of a way to tease Donnie. "Yeah, Leo. After all, my shell barely made it to the bed last night in yer hurry to thank-,"

Raph was cut off when he heard Donnie growl at him and he barked out a laugh in response. Leo sent Donnie what he hoped was an apologetic smile as he bumped his shoulder into Raph.

They remained there until they heard the kids squealing their way upstairs for breakfast and followed behind where they found Mike and Woody putting on a show as they cooked for everyone. Raph watched as Leo immediately opened all the doors that led out to the wrap-around deck on this level and then smiled fondly as Leo sat at the end of the rather large table that was closest to the doors so he could still watch the ocean.

"How did you guys even manage this?" Leo asked, not taking his eyes away from the waves.

"Well, April, Sadie and I might have spent a few of those girls' weekends away these past few months camping out here to oversee the construction," Miwa said, sitting down next to him at the table.

"And by camping, we mean we slept in the jet," Sadie said, laughing.

April giggled as she sat down with them. "Yeah, Leo you totally owe us. We spent our girls' weekends being eaten by bugs -,"

"What kind of bugs?" Raph asked, sitting down on the other side of Leo as Leo smirked at him.

"And without WiFi," April finished, giggling.

"I've fixed that problem," Donnie said, grinning at Leo especially since he knew Leo was probably the least worried about the lack of internet anywhere they went.

"I think the biggest surprise is probably that none of you slipped up and revealed the secret," Leo said, inadvertently sliding his eyes over to Michelangelo, who only grinned back at him, before he returned his gaze to the ocean.

"Raph threatened us," Casey muttered from his spot further down the table.

April focused her attention back on Leo and he pulled his eyes away from the ocean and focused on her in return. "We're kidding you know," she said to him. "Well, not about the bugs, sorry Raph, or how we learned to make do without WiFi, but we're kidding about you owing us. We were all thrilled to be able to help Raph on this project for you. You keep this family together and in line, Leo. We can't thank you enough for that."

Leo stared at April and moved his eyes around the table at the other family members who all sat grinning at him as well. He felt Raph's foot slide across one of his feet as Master Splinter rested a hand on one of his shoulders.

"You guys are ridiculous," Leo finally said, smiling at them. Machi climbed up into his lap and he welcomed her with a hug. "And I'm not the only one who works hard for this family." He felt Raph kick his foot and he turned to smile at him. "But thank you all very much. This is beyond anything I could've ever imagined myself."

"Cheers to Leo!" Mikey said, raising a glass from over by the stove.

"Cheers," Raph rumbled next to him.

"Let's eat," Woody said, as he began placing plates of eggs, bacon, pancakes and toast out on the table.

The group forced the excited children to sit and eat breakfast with them before everyone headed down to the beach.

Leo grinned as he watched almost every single member of his family, including Master Splinter, charge into the waves. He held back and plopped down in the sand next to Usagi who sat in a beach chair.

"You're not getting in the ocean?" Leo asked and watched Usagi quickly shake his head.

"The kids don't care about the amount of time it will take to get the salt and sand washed out of their fur," Usagi said. "But I know better. This is a great location for a turtle, though."

"Thanks for coming. I know Akito appreciates having Violet here." Leo's eyes roamed over the group and found Akito and Violet swimming together with the rest of the bunnies.

"They do have a special bond," Usagi said, thoughtfully. "And it's hard to turn down a beach vacation for the kids after they work so hard for us." He leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees. "You have a remarkable family, Leo. And I've appreciated that my nieces and nephews and I have been included in a number of your family's events, but-,"

"I found the sand toys, Shadow!" April called out, coming up behind them.

"Come build with us, daddy," Machi said, scampering over to Leo and pulling on his hand.

Leo grinned at her and quickly rose to follow her, along with Shadow and April. He heard _daddy_ less and less as he noticed her switching to _dad_ now that she was getting older. Raph called him a sap for doing anything she asked as long as she used the more childish version of her name for him. But Leo was quick to remind Raph that he was just as bad whenever he heard _papa_ instead of _pops_ , which Akito had switched to a few years ago and Machi was quickly following suit. Plus, he was _pretty sure_ Machi didn't know the power that word had over him. Yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Also, here's a link back to Flickr for the picture, which is kind enough to let me store my photos to be embedded in stories](https://flic.kr/p/W5VVwD)   
> 


	4. Chapter 4

After building in the sand with Machi and Shadow for most of the morning, Leo finally walked into the ocean waves and dove under them to go in search of his favorite turtle. He'd watched Raphael and Casey try to teach the teenagers how to boogie board earlier, but then he'd disappeared.

His arms and legs moved swiftly through the water as he swam further out into the ocean and then dove down to examine some of the underwater plant life. He quickly found that although their human and furry family members all complained about the salt water when it got in their eyes, it didn't seem to bother his eyes at all.

He didn't notice Raphael's approach until he felt a tug on one of his bandana tails. The water made it extremely easy for Raph to twist him around and pull him into his arms. They were careful to keep their mouths shut in order to continue holding their breaths, but Leo smiled at Raph's grin as their lips met. His hands reached forward and cupped Raphael's face before he slid a hand across the back of Raph's neck. He grinned when he watched Raphael shiver. He heard a grunt through the water from Raph as his hands began to move down Raph's sides and he almost opened his mouth to laugh as Raphael grabbed him by the arms and kicked upwards until they broke the surface.

"You play dirty, Fearless," Raph growled once they'd both gulped in large breaths of air. "Are ya tryin to drown me?"

Leo's hands went back to their previous task and he soon had Raph's tail within his grasp. "I just wanted to see if that would work under water, Raphie," he said, smirking at his emerald turtle. "And I hadn't even reached the good parts yet."

He heard a churr from Raphael but then glanced towards the beach. Their family came into view every other moment as each wave crashed towards the shore.

Raphael glanced towards the beach as well and then rolled his eyes as he began dragging Leo back towards the group. "Yer followin through on that later," Raph growled at him.

* * *

 Over the next few days, the group developed an easy routine of joining together for all meals and morning beach time while the afternoons and evenings varied as far as whether they joined together or went off in smaller groups.

Leo had never been more relaxed in his entire life.

Machi had dug a hole in the sand for his shell earlier and he was currently basking in the sun on the beach. He was half asleep but his ears were still open as he listened to his family around him. He realized he wasn't doing it to make sure they were safe, but because he enjoyed hearing the happy sounds they were all making on the beach. He smiled as his ears zeroed in on Raphael who was nearby joking with Mikey and Woody.

A few moments later, his eyes opened as he felt water hit his face and he noticed the dark clouds above them.

"Come on, Fearless," Raph said, pulling him to his feet as lightning cracked loudly across the sky. "Time to take shelter."

Raph scooped up Machi and raced towards the house behind Casey who had scooped up a crying Shadow. Leo stayed and waited until the rest of the family moved off the beach before following the group. Most of them were drenched by the time they made it into the house and April started tossing them beach towels to dry off as they entered the main level.

They moved to the top floor and Master Splinter began a fire in the fireplace while Mikey debated over which movie should be first in their rainy day movie marathon as everyone else collected blankets and pillows and piled on the floor and couches. Raphael set up a spot for him and Leo on the couch and then headed into the kitchen area in search of Leo.

Leo stood at the kitchen counter actually cutting up strawberries, under Woody's direct supervision, and he grinned when he saw Raphael head his way. "Heads up, Raphie," he said and smiled wider when Raph caught the fruit in his mouth.

Woody was dumping popcorn into bowls and he called the teenagers over to start dispersing them around the room. He grinned over at Raph and Leo as he watched Leo toss a few more pieces of strawberries in Raph's direction.

* * *

 Later that night, Raphael checked on all the kids to make sure they were all in bed before he eagerly raced up to his and Leo's room. However, he soon discovered that Leo wasn't there. He frowned at their empty bathroom as well before he headed out onto the porch. The lights on the front of the house only extended a few feet out onto the sand and he couldn't see Leo in any of the lit up space.

He jumped over the railing and landed in the sand below to head into the darkness. He walked towards the sound of the waves as his eyes adjusted and he finally spotted Leo further down the beach. He was sitting in the sand facing the dark ocean. Raph plopped down next to him and pressed his shell into the sand to get comfortable as he stared up at the sky.

"Whatcha doin out here?"

"Listening to the waves," Leo said.

Raph hummed in response. "Have you had the kids come look at the stars yet?" he asked Leo.

"Maybe I'll ask Don to point out the constellations for them," Leo said.

"You act like you don't know all the names of the stars yerself," Raph said, nudging one his elbows towards Leo's thigh.

"Yeah but you know Don's not always sure what to do with the kids. And they wanted to try a bonfire tomorrow night if it's not too windy anyway." He turned his attention to the emerald turtle sprawled out next to him and let his eyes roam over Raphael's body as he felt his insides warm.

Raphael was still staring at the stars when his view was suddenly blocked by Leo's bright blue eyes as Leo climbed on top of him. "Finally," Raph said, pulling on Leo's neck possessively. "I've been waiting for yer attention all day."

Leo pushed his knees into the sand between Raph's knees and pushed the muscular legs apart. One of his hands reached down and he quickly wrapped his fingers around Raph's tail, which immediately pulled a churr out of Raphael. He answered the churr back into Raph's mouth and felt Raph's finger tighten on the back of his neck.

"You don't think any of the kids will sneak out here, do you?" Leo suddenly asked.

Raph laughed. "Yeah, I figured this was a little too exposed for ya, Fearless." He leaned up, forcing Leo up as well and then pulled Leonardo into the ocean.

Leo waited until they had moved past where the waves crashed, which was pretty far out considering the low tide, before he wrapped his arms around Raph's broad shoulders and swiped his tongue up Raphael's neck. He breathed in Raph's scent and could feel his lower plastron tighten.

"Need you, Leo," Raph churred, tilting his head for Leo's busy mouth. His own hands moved to Leo's sides to help steady them in the moving water as his breathing quickened from the excitement of what was coming.

Leo responded by biting into Raph's neck as one of his hands moved from Raph's shoulder to rub over an already impressive bulge at the bottom of Raph's plastron. Leo's eyes moved down to the ocean water. Thanks to the low tide, the water only came up to their calves. He grinned as he dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Raph's muscular upper legs to hold him in place before his mouth began its work over Raph's slit. He heard a deep, throaty groan from Raphael as his hands grabbed at Leo's shoulders and he dropped down for him.

Leo churred as he slid his tongue from base to tip before pulling Raphael completely into his mouth. He earned churrs and moans from Raphael with every swipe of his tongue and every movement of his mouth.

Leo suddenly pulled Raph's legs forward and forced Raph to land on the sandy floor with a surprised "oomph". Raphael raised himself up on his elbows to keep his head out of the water and stared in surprise as Leo's head had seamlessly followed his lower plastron under water. He didn't have time to consider how impressed he was that Leo hadn't lost contact with him, however, as the underwater environment seemed to force Leo to tighten his suction hold around Raph's length. Raph's fingers dug into the sand beneath him as he threw his head back and churred loudly. His hips moved rhythmically towards Leo and he watched as water lapped over the back of Leo's shell. He felt Leo press him to the roof of his mouth with his tongue and could feel his release coming even before Leo sent a vibration though him with a strong churr.

When Raph's jerking spasms had finally stopped, Leo rose to his knees once again to catch his breath. He froze and just stared for a moment as he watched the waves slide over Raph's golden plastron before continuing on to crash towards the shoreline. Raph's head had been thrown back as he continued to pant from his release, but he lifted it to meet Leo's gaze.

"Come here," he growled to Leo.

Leo moved forward on his knees, using his hands to spread Raph's legs even further apart. He leaned forward and supported himself on his arms as he loomed over his favorite turtle. His mouth slowly covered Raph's mouth and he felt Raph's tongue press its way past his lips. He shifted slightly so that the weight of his upper body was supported by just one arm, allowing his other hand to begin once again stroking Raph's still exposed length.

Raph threw his head back again as he felt himself sparking back to life. "Jeezus, Leo," he churred.

Leo smiled down at Raph and Raph's blown pupils as he continued stroking Raphael under the water. He dropped down himself and was shocked by the coldness of the ocean water. He was going to need Raph's warmth soon and he was pleased when he felt one of Raph's legs wrap around the back of his shell and pull his lower plastron towards him.

"Need you," Raph growled at him again.

Leo nodded. He was reaching the end of his self-control anyway. He released Raphael so that he could use his hand to guide himself to Raph's entrance and groaned in pleasure as he slowly began pushing his way into the warm tunnel.

"We should – more – in water," Leo gasped out and heard Raphael chuckle at his inability to form the entire sentence of what he wanted to express.

Leo paused when he was fully encased and leaned forward to kiss Raphael again. Raph desperately wanted to wrap his hands around the back of Leo's neck but he was stuck supporting himself on his elbows in order to keep his upper body out of the water. So he shoved his tongue in Leo's mouth and hoped it got the intensity of his message across as he felt Leo begin to thrust into him through the water. He dug his elbows further in the sand to help steady their moving bodies and churred again as he felt Leo's hand return to stroking him as well.

He couldn't keep up with their kiss as Leo's movements quickened and he was forced to throw his head back once again and curse towards the stars in the sky as he reached his second release of the night.

Leo moaned out Raph's name as he felt Raph squeeze around him and he was hit with his own release after only a few more thrusts into Raph's' body. He caught himself on his hands to keep from shoving Raph under the water with his collapse. Raph watched Leo's convulsions and pushed himself forward in a sitting position so he could support Leo by wrapping his arms around his shell and pulling him into his plastron.

Leo bit into his neck half-heartedly, pulling chuckles from both of them. Leo lifted his head so he could see Raph's smile before kissing him again.

"I love you, Raphie."

"Aishiteru, Leonardo," Raph whispered, grinning. "Yer quite a talented turtle."

Leo smirked back at him.

Leo pulled back off of Raphael so that they could both stand. Raph looped his fingers into Leo's fingers as they silently made their way back to the house. They scaled up to the second floor deck and slipped into their room.

Leo left their door out to the deck open so he could continue to listen to the ocean before he climbed into bed after Raphael. He was pulled into Raph's side and one of Raph's hands lifted his face to kiss him again. He kept his mouth connected to Raph's as he felt sleep pulling on him.

Raphael huffed out a silent laugh when he realized Leo had fallen asleep mid-kiss. He nuzzled his face into Leo's and breathed in his scent before falling asleep as well.

* * *

The next afternoon, Leo led a meditation session down on the beach with all the children, including Machi and Shadow, along with Master Splinter, Usagi, Miwa and April. He cracked an eye open as he came out of his own meditation and smiled over at his children. Akito made meditation part of his daily routine without Leo's prompting and it pleased him that Akito found value in the practice.

Then there was Machi. He'd been surprised she had agreed to come down and join them in the first place. He opened his other eye and grinned at his fidgety daughter. He silently rose and gently touched her shoulder to get her attention. She looked guiltily up at him but smiled when he offered her a hand. He pulled her up and they silently moved away from the group and started down the beach.

Leo's favorite part of the beach had to be the wet sandy area where the waves made their last effort to reach the land. He held Machi's hand as they walked, mainly because she was still willing to hold his hand, and he watched as the waves lapped over their feet before retracting back into the ocean.

"This has been a super fun week, daddy," Machi said, smiling up at him.

"What's your favorite part?" Leo asked her.

"I like all the outside time. And sleeping in the bunk beds with the other girls. And the table that has enough seats for everyone. And how I learned how to boogie board faster than Akito did."

Leo chuckled and squeezed her hand as he listened to the words quickly tumble out of her mouth. "I love you Mach," he said.

"Love you, too," she said, grinning up him. "And I like this type of meditation better."

"Yeah," Leo said. "I thought you might."

* * *

 Leo left Machi to play with April and Shadow in the sand and went on a hunt for Raphael. He found Raph alone on the second floor deck, sitting in a rocking chair and strumming his guitar. He sat in the rocking chair next to him and looked in the direction Raph was looking.

He spotted their tall son walking slowly in the sand away from house with Violet, who would occasionally stop and pick up something she spotted in the sand. "Are they holding hands?" he asked.

"Yup," Raph said. He watched Leo tilt his head. "What do ya expect? We've known how he's felt about her since they were little. And the kid's fourteen now."

"So?" Leo asked.

"Look, Fearless, I know at fourteen you were busy thinking about ninjitsu and honor and swords and more honor and-"

"You," Leo said, sliding his eyes over to Raphael. "You occupied the majority of my thoughts the majority of the time."

A small smile crossed Raph's face before he frowned. "I'm sorry I missed out on those years, Leo."

Leo reached out and rested a hand on Raph's shoulder as he shushed him. He thought for a moment before saying, "You don't spend time feeling bad about that, do you?"

Raph pursed his lips together and returned his gaze to Akito and Violet who were kicking water at each other and laughing. "I think its just watching Akito turn into a teenager makes me think of us as teenagers."

"We might not have been _together_ during those years but I still looked forward to seeing you every day, Hothead."

"I did too, Fearless," Raph said in response. He strummed his guitar again and smiled at Leo as he began to sing, "You're my end and my beginning," he watched Leo's eyes light up. "Even when I lose I'm winnin. Cause I give you all of me. And you give me all of you, oh oh."*

"How many others do we share this porch with?" Leo asked, tightening his hold on Raph's shoulder.

"Too many," Raph said, staring at Leo's eyes. He loved watching those blue eyes darken with lust. "Want to go for a walk in the woods with me?"

"Yes," Leo said, nodding quickly. "Yes, I do."

Raph set his guitar aside and pulled Leo up from his rocking chair. He grinned at him before the two of them vaulted from the second floor porch into the sand below.

Raph grabbed Leo's hand on their landing and they moved quickly around the side of the house and off into the woods that began behind the house.

"Come on," Leo said, dropping Raph's hand so he could use both of his hands to scale one of the trees.

Raph laughed and climbed the tree next to Leo's and followed along as they jumped from tree to tree further into the forested area. He paused when Leo did and followed Leo's gaze. Then he turned his eyes back to Leo so he could just watch Leo watch the ocean. His eyes ran down Leo's body and he hungrily noted Leo's tan skin.

"Aishiteru, Leo," he said and smiled again when Leo turned to him with his dorky grin.

"Love you, Raphie," Leo said before he quickly slid his way down the tree he was in and took off in a sprint through the trees. He laughed as he heard Raph's heavy footfalls charge after him on the ground of the forest.

He swung himself around a tree and out of Raph's sight so that when his emerald turtle came running past him, he was able to spring off the closest tree and tackle him from the side. Raph grunted as they hit the ground and wrapped his legs around Leo's waist so that he could twist himself around and pull Leo under him instead.

Leo looked up at Raph's lecherous grin and smirked back at him. But he froze in the next second when he heard something coming towards them. He instinctively reached for swords that weren't there before he surged forward and knocked Raph back on his shell.

Raph watched as a tranquilizer dart that had originally been meant for him shot into Leo's arm. He growled as he caught Leo before he slumped over to the ground. He tried to lift Leo onto his own shell but he could hear another dart coming towards them and knew the only way he'd be able to dodge out of the way fast enough would be to drop Leo.

* * *

 *John Legend: "All of me"


	5. Chapter 5

_They had just rescued Mikey from Bradford's dojo and led Bradford, Xever and some Foot ninjas into a trap in the sewer. Bradford tossed Raphael like a rag doll across the tunnel and Leo saw red. He charged towards Bradford and was mid-air with his swords aimed at the back of Bradford's head when the giant man swung around and stopped the blades. With his fingers. Leo couldn't keep the shock off his face. He was going to have to ask sensei about that maneuver._

_Later of course, because right now he was flying through the air after Bradford had thrown him. He could see Raph running out of the corner of his eye and the next thing he knew his fall was being slowed as Raph jumped up to catch him. And while Raph's shell hit the concrete with a loud scraping noise, his fall was softened by Raph's body. At the time, Leo hadn't understood why Raph had bothered._

* * *

_Jumping out of the TCRI building had seemed like a good idea a few moments ago. But now that he was speeding through the air towards his death, his body began to rebel and his arms flailed in front of him as if he could slow his descent. Staring at the ground was making it worse. He pulled his arms towards his face to block his view. He could feel heat at his back from the fiery explosion he'd just left behind and immediately thought of his brothers. This was OK, as long as they had gotten out. This was OK as long as they were safe._

" _Ahhhhh, gotcha!" he heard as two strong hands grabbed his arms and suddenly he was pulled upwards, away from the cement. His eyes flew open as he watched the ground get smaller. He looked up and found Raphael, his face bright and triumphant. He heard Raph yell, "In yer face, gravity!"_

_He huffed out a shaky breath as he realized how close that had been. "Thanks, Raph."_

_Raph glanced down at him for a brief moment and Leo saw a fierce protectiveness shining out of those green eyes. "Anytime, buddy," Raph said to him before moving his eyes back to the city as Donnie and Mikey joined them with their own turtle-gliders._

* * *

_Leo glanced at his brothers and felt a small amount of pride in watching them work as a team to save the citizens of New York. It was amazing how they could go from arguing and picking on each other one minute to immediately working together the next minute when it was necessary._

_And it was almost fun to step back and watch Mikey thrive as leader in Dimension X. Almost. He wasn't too sure about Mikey's recent order that Leo hold off Kraang Subprime by himself. But his brothers were busy so he dodged the giant Kraang body's charge and leapt up on the revolving metal blades to keep the flying alien away from his brothers._

_He listened in relief as his brothers were able to hit the last of the humans with retromutagen and send coordinates to have them beamed out of there. But his relief was short-lived as Kraang Subprime hit him hard enough to knock him off balance and he began falling down through the center of the technodrome. He hit one of the other revolving blades on his way down and his eyes squeezed shut at the sudden pain in his head._

" _Leo!" he heard Raph yell and suddenly his wrist was being yanked up and his body jerked backwards in response, but he was no longer falling. He recognized Raph's emerald hands on him as he was pulled up. And Raph's hands didn't leave him, even when he was sitting safely on the platform with his brothers. Instead those strong hands seemed to tighten around him protectively as Kraang Subprime flew down towards them. Leo focused on the alien and began thinking of a new attack just as they were suddenly beamed out of there._

* * *

Leo's eyes groggily opened as he heard spinning helicopter blades. The strange memory dreams had come one right after the other and left Leo thinking of the many times Raphael had caught him in the past.

He was lying down in the helicopter but face to face with a still unconscious Raphael. From what Leo could see, Raph's face and shoulders had some scratches, no doubt from being dragged through the foliage of the forest floor. He could feel small scratches on his own body as well. Other than that, though, he couldn't see or feel any serious injuries on either of them.

He twisted and found his arms tightly bound behind his back and his legs tied at his ankles. Moving his head slightly, he tried to see who was operating the helicopter but couldn't actually see up that far. But he could see out the open sides of the helicopter and watched as they flew over open water.

A slight movement from Raphael brought his attention back to Raph's face and he was immediately relieved to see Raph's green eyes slowly open. Leo widened his eyes slightly and raised his eye ridges in silent question to ask if Raph was alright and watched as Raph nodded silently in response as he struggled with his own bound hands and feet.

Raphael was suddenly hefted up into a sitting position and Leo struggled to get himself upright, despite his tied hands and feet, to follow him.

"Fishface," Raph snarled at the mutant who had just moved him away from Leo. "Where have you been hiding all these years?"

"So glad you decided to wake up for the ride," another familiar voice behind Raphael said and Raph watched Leo's blue eyes widened as he finally saw who was responsible for capturing them.

"Baxter Stockman," Leo said, incredulously. "You're supposed to be in jail."

"I _was_ in jail until I devised a foolproof escape plan," Stockman said.

"Yes, the eighteenth escape plan was the charm," Fishface said sarcastically.

"So yer working as Stockman's muscle now, Fishface?" Raph taunted. Fishface quickly kicked him in the side and Raph heard Leo issue out a growl towards the walking fish. Raph pushed his shell back towards the wall behind him to stay upright. His bound hands made it hard to keep his balance and he was already dangerously close to the opening on the side of the aircraft.

"How did you find us?" Leo demanded. He wanted to know. But he also wanted to keep Stockman distracted.

Baxter laughed. "When I learned Karai was back in New York, I knew she would've reconnected with you. So I've been trying to track her for months. I finally got lucky with the tracker I put on the Foot's jet. I've been searching that island for _days_ and finally got lucky when you two came straight to me."

"Who is flying this thing?" Leo asked. Now that he was upright he couldn't see anyone else in the helicopter.

"I have programmed an autopilot," Stockman said, grinning.

"Yer willingly flying in one of his inventions?" Raph muttered over to Fishface.

"What do you want?" Leo asked, glaring at Stockman as the crazy scientist continued to smile at his good fortune in capturing the turtles.

"I want revenge on you pathetic turtles for sending me to prison!" Baxter said. "I'm creating a retromutagen that will turn you troublemakers back into regular, idiotic, non-ninja turtles."

"And me back into a man," Fishface said.

"Stockman will never make a working retromutagen, you idiot," Raphael said.

"He is not a fly any longer," Fishface said, waving his arms towards Stockman's human form.

"Only because he stole retromutagen from us while we were on patrol years ago," Leo said. He watched as Fishface suddenly turned his narrow-eyed attention back to Stockman. "He's _lying_ to you, Xever," Leo said.

"Don't listen to _them_!" Stockman said, glaring at Fishface. He glared at the two turtles and decided he suddenly didn't want both of them if they were going to make Xever question his loyalties. It had taken him too long to track down and then convince the fish mutant to help him to have the turtles ruin it. "I've decided we only need one turtle for the experiment," he said.

"After you had me drag both their asses through the woods?" Fishface growled.

"Get rid of the red one."

Fishface faltered for a moment, but then grinned evilly. "My pleasure. I can't tell you how long I've waited to do this, Raphael," he said as he slammed one of his large metal legs into Raph's plastron and kicked Raphael out the side of the open aircraft.

"Raph!" Leo yelled. His stomach clenched as he watched Raphael grunt in surprise and then disappear from view.


	6. Chapter 6

He was falling. The adrenaline that coursed through him might've been enough for him to finally break the ties binding his hands if he wasn't also fighting the wind beating against his shell.

He was falling. The air was hitting his face too fast and he couldn't breathe. He was going to land in the water below him but it was going to feel more like concrete based on how fast he was going.

He was falling. And Leo. Leo was being carried off by the mad scientist and the stupid fish mutant. He lifted his gaze back to the helicopter and suddenly narrowed his eyes when he saw a white-eyed Leonardo barreling towards him. Leo's body was a straight line with a single purpose of moving through the air fast enough to catch up to the falling Raphael.

Raphael would've cursed at Leo if he thought he could hear him. But he barely had time to wonder how Leo could be so stupid as to jump out after him before Leo actually did catch up to him thanks to his straight dive.

"Are ya crazy?" he managed to yell out at Leo.

He got no reaction from Leo though and in the next moment he felt Leo loop one arm through one of his trapped arms and then Leo's legs wrapped around his waist. He barely had time to register that Leo's hands and feet were no longer bound when Leo pulled a cord at his side before quickly moving his free arm through Raph's other trapped arm in order to lock his hands behind Raph's' back. Leo tucked his head into Raph's neck and grunted in his effort to keep hold of Raphael with his arms and legs as they were jerked upwards by the force of the opening parachute.

Raph grimaced in surprise when he felt the sharp upwards jerk as he realized that Leo actually had a parachute. But more importantly, he realized just how tight Leo had to hold onto him in order for him to not fly out of Leo's grasp.

Suddenly Raph was no longer falling uncontrollably fast through the air and no longer unable to breathe. They had slowed to a remarkably quiet float as the parachute began to gently lower them towards the water. They were both distracted as they heard a small explosion at that same moment. They looked up and saw the helicopter had caught fire and was quickly falling towards the water below.

"Did you do that?" Raph asked.

"Yes," Leo replied quietly. The helicopter was quite a distance away from them now but he watched as two more parachutes opened in the air. Leo tightened his legs around Raph's middle and loosened one of his hands enough to push the emergency button on Raph's T-phone before he pulled a small knife also out of Raph's belt in order to free Raph's hands.

When Raph felt his hands freed, he tried to reach forward and grab hold of Leo to ease some of the burning Leo had to be feeling in his own arms but Raph quickly realized that his arms had fallen asleep and he growled at his useless limbs.

Leo rested his head on Raph's shoulder and he instinctively tightened his hold on Raphael as he realized Raph's arms weren't able to help yet.

"Ya OK?" Raphael asked him, struggling to force feeling back into his arms as he listened to Leo's fast breathing.

"Had to catch you," Leo said. He kept his forehead on Raph's shoulder and listened as his words came out in a rush.

"Ya did catch me, Fearless."

"Is this how you feel every time you catch me?"

Raph did his best to nuzzle the side of Leo's face. "Scared and shaky?" He watched Leo nod. "Yeah, Leo," he said, nuzzling into his face again. "How the hell did you get untied and get outta there with a parachute?"

"I used a throwing star from my belt to cut the ties around my hands while he was talking," Leo said. He heard his own voice tremble as he spoke but he continued anyway. "I had just freed them when you were pushed out. I cut the ties on my feet and grabbed a parachute."

Raph heard Leo's shaky voice and pushed through the pins and needles in his arms to lift one hand to the back of Leo's neck where he gave him a reassuring squeeze.

"And the helicopter?"

"I threw some throwing stars at the control panel on my way out," Leo said as they dropped into the ocean. The cold water felt good on Leo's arms and legs which were beginning to shake, although he wasn't sure if it was from catching and holding Raphael or from the sheer adrenalin he could still feel running through his veins.

Raphael took the knife Leo was still clutching and used it to quickly cut the ties around his own ankles. He put the knife back in his belt and then quickly pushed the parachute off Leo's shoulders.

"You didn't happen to grab one of those inflatable boats on yer way out too, didya?" Raph teased.

But instead of laughing, Leo surged forward and wrapped his arms around Raph's neck in a hug.

"I'm OK, Leo," Raph said. He wrapped his arms around Leonardo and kicked his legs to keep them afloat. "We're OK. Thanks to you." He kissed what he could reach of the side of Leo's face.

"Raph," Leo said, his voice still shaking. "If I couldn't catch you-,"

Raph shushed him and nudged Leo's face with his nose until Leo finally lifted his head and began kissing him back. He felt a vibration on his belt and broke the kiss with Leo to pull his T-phone up out of the water, silently impressed how waterproof Donnie had managed to make them. He wrapped his own legs around Leo's waist to hold onto him and support the both of them as he handed the phone over to Leo.

"Yer _incredible_ ," he said to Leo before he released the phone into Leo's hand. He watched Leo pull himself back together in a single moment and take the phone.

"Why do your T-phones say you're several miles away? In the ocean?" Donatello asked frantically.

"Because Stockman and Fishface tranq'd us in the woods and flew away with us in a helicopter," Leo answered, thankful that his voice was once again steady. He heard an audible gasp from Donnie. Leo looked around to try and get his bearings. He could see land in the far distance. "We're going to start swimming south away from where the helicopter crashed before the Coast Guard gets here."

"Crashed? Are you both OK?"

"We're fine, Donnie."

"We're on our way, Leo," Donnie said. "We'll call back when we're closing in."

"Ok," Leo said. "And Don, tell everyone to pack up. We're going home."

Leo hung up and reached down to tuck the phone back on Raph's belt.

* * *

Miwa fidgeted in her seat. She looked out her window from her seat in the jet and stared down at the water. The sun was going down and it would be dark by the time they reached the airport to head home. She fidgeted again and felt her father's hand reach over to calm her. She glanced at him and saw the worry in his own face as well. She could only nod in agreement.

She looked across the aisle behind them and glanced at Leonardo and Raphael. They were both sound asleep, no doubt exhausted from the swim they'd taken after escaping from Stockman. They were slumped together, or as close as they could be with Machi scrunched between them. Miwa and the others had tried to hide the real reason they had to pick up Leo and Raph out of the middle of the ocean and then quickly and frantically packed up the house two days early from the kids. But Miwa knew her little niece and nephew weren't stupid and even if they didn't know the details, they knew enough to be worried about their dads.

It hurt Miwa to see the kids upset. It upset her that after the months of work and effort it had taken to make this trip a reality, Leo and Raph had been attacked. And it pissed her off that Stockman used her link to the turtles to find them.

She glanced back again and saw that Machi wasn't actually sleeping. She climbed into Leo's lap but grabbed one of Raphael's hands to hold as she looked back and forth at her two sleeping fathers. One of Leo's hands automatically reached up in his sleep and wrapped around her in a hug.

Miwa turned back around and glanced over at her father. He had rested his head back against the seat and closed his eyes but opened them when he felt Miwa's eyes on him.

"I have to do something," she whispered over to him.

* * *

Stockman looked through his computer readouts again as Fishface paced back and forth behind him.

"You tell me right now, fly-boy that you know how to make the retromutagen," Xever growled, still thinking about what the turtles had said earlier.

"I have examined the last of the retromutagen I had leftover-,"

"That you _stole_ from the turtles."

"Yes. And the only ingredient I don't have is DNA. I wanted to capture a turtle because I assumed it was turtle DNA."

"Why? The turtles didn't make the mutagen in the first place," Xever said. "What if it's Kraang DNA? If we couldn't capture _and keep_ a turtle, we'll never get a banished alien."

"Wait," Stockman said, standing up straight as he stared at the paper in his hand.

Xever stopped pacing and stared at the crazy scientist.

"It's not turtle DNA."

"How can you tell?"

"Because it's _female_ DNA. And what female do the turtles know who the Kraang were _also_ always after?"


	7. Chapter 7

April walked up to the big green food truck parked at the edge of the soccer field while keeping an eye on Shadow during her evening soccer practice. She ignored the looks from the people waiting in line and smiled at Woody as he tossed her a to-go bag from the order window in the back of the truck.

Woody offered an apologetic shrug to the customers waiting and offered up a, "That's my sister," and a wink to placate them before he was handed the next order through their tall pass-through window from a whistling Michelangelo.

He smiled as he recognized the song Mikey was whistling and took the order from the next hungry customer before glancing at the soccer fields to watch Shadow in action. He'd played soccer in high school and had been slightly amused when Shadow had come to him for tips and he'd actually been able to provide her with something that none of her other _athletically talented_ uncles could provide.

Once the crowd of customers had all been fed, Woody slipped through the door that led to Mikey's work station and stole a few kisses from Michelangelo before he was shoved out of the truck to watch the end of Shadow's practice. He wasn't sure where Casey was tonight but they all knew Shadow liked having as many family members around the soccer field as she could get.

He spotted April on the sidelines talking to some other parents and headed that way as he searched out Shadow. She was at the other end of the field trying to keep a soccer ball in the air by bouncing it back and forth using just her knees. It was something he'd taught her and she was pretty good at it.

He'd almost reached April when he stopped suddenly and focused back on Shadow. A strange man wearing a sweater, inappropriate for both the summer heat and the soccer field, was approaching Shadow. He looked strangely familiar to Woody but he couldn't place where he'd seen him before. But he was pretty sure it wasn't here on the soccer field.

Shadow sensed the stranger approaching her and let her soccer ball drop to the ground to turn to him.

"You're April O'Neil's daughter, right?" the stranger asked her, eyeing her red hair and freckles.

Shadow got a bad feeling about the look on this stranger's face and she took a step back. The stranger took another step towards her in response but stopped suddenly when her Uncle Woody appeared behind her and placed a protective hand on her shoulder.

"Can I help you?" Woody asked.

"Who are you?" the strange man asked Woody.

"I think you should head over to your mom," Woody said, giving Shadow's shoulder a squeeze.

She nodded and turned to go and then narrowly dodged the strange man's hand as he jerked forward to grab her arm. She jerked herself backwards and quickly kicked her soccer ball into the man's face.

The stranger yelled out in surprise as the soccer ball cracked his nose but pushed forward to try to grab her again.

Woody spun around and kicked the man in the stomach, a move he'd seen the turtles do effortlessly in the dojo a thousand times. It was a little harder than they made it seem but he was happy to see the man fall backwards. He turned and saw Shadow running to April.

April wrapped her arms around Shadow and raised her eyes in question to Woody across the field. Then her eyes widened as she saw Stockman knocked down on the grass behind Woody.

"Grab him!" April yelled.

Woody turned back to the strange man as he jumped to his feet and began running away. Woody lunged forward and tackled him.

* * *

"If we were still at the beach, we wouldn't have to go to bed this early," Machi said, practically pouting.

"Well, we're not still at the beach," Akito snapped at her, tired of hearing her whine. He wasn't happy to be home either. He tried not to let his mind wander to the walks in the sand he was missing out on with Violet. He'd only just worked up the nerve to hold her hand yesterday before they were all rushed back on the jet to come home. Mr. Usagi had transported himself, Violet and her brothers and sister home directly from the beach. He hadn't even gotten a chance to sit next to her on the jet again.

He could feel his pop's eyes on him and knew he shouldn't have snapped at Machi. The kid had thrived on that island with the amount of time she got to spend outside. Unlike here where outside meant they got to go for a run in the sewer with their dad. He knew his fathers and uncles had been raised in the sewers and their only experience with the real outdoors came when they began patrolling at fifteen. And even then, it was mostly just rooftops in the dark. So he should be grateful for their nice apartment building. And he was. But he also wished they could go outside as freely as they did at the beach house. It was why he'd managed not to snap at Machi, before this moment, whenever she complained about not being allowed to go watch Shadow's soccer games.

He glanced over at Machi and took in her sad pout. He knew Machi shouldn't just be allowed to go watch Shadow play soccer. Machi should be out on the soccer field playing too. He had a sudden vision of her dominating on a soccer field and grinned.

"What?" she snapped back at him when she caught him looking at her.

"Do you want to kick a soccer ball around tomorrow morning in the dojo with me?"

She narrowed her eyes at her big brother and wondered why he'd make such an offer. Lately his version of hanging out with her included shooing her out of his room and closing the door in her face when he talked to Violet on the inter-dimensional phone Uncle Donnie had down in his lab.

Raphael watched the two of them in their stand-off outside their bedroom doors. He was wondering if Machi was going to let her stubbornness turn down Akito's offer when Machi finally nodded her head in response.

"Great. But I don't want to hear any more whining tonight," Akito said and shut himself in his room before Machi could get another word in.

Raph tried to hide his grin as he watched Machi scowl at Akito's door before going into her own room and shutting the door. _I guess I'll get good night hugs later_ , he thought to himself as he glanced towards Leo in the kitchen. Leo stood facing Raph but his focus was centered on something else as he held his T-phone pressed tightly to the side of his head.

Raph narrowed his eyes and wondered who Leo was talking to as he noticed Leo was actually glaring at the floor. His grip on the phone was tighter than it needed to be and his head dipped as his free hand reached up to scrub down his face. Raph's focus zeroed in on Leo's swollen and bruised shoulders, injured thanks to Leo taking the brunt of the force of supporting both of them as the parachute had opened.

He should've forced Leo to ice the shoulders yesterday when they had been returned to the beach house. But they had all been pretty busy getting their things packed and locking the house up tight and he'd forgotten about the ice. Easy to do when Leo refused to complain about pain. Then he and Leo had been zonked out for the entire flight home. They'd barely managed to wake up long enough to walk back to the vehicles for the last leg of the journey home. And he was pretty sure Akito and Machi had put him and Leo to bed last night.

Today they had slept in. Well, he'd tried to force them to sleep in. But Leonardo didn't really know how to sleep in and Raphael had had to use a firm grip and his bulkier weight to press Leo into the mattress to force him to stay and relax. His persuasion technique had worked, though, because by the end of it, Leo had lay panting for only a few moments before falling right back to sleep. Raphael smiled at the memory.

Mikey and Woody had come over and cooked them breakfast and even set out a lunch for them before they decided to head out in the food truck for the rest of the day. Master Splinter had come over when they left to eat lunch with them. This kind of hovering would've bugged the hell out of him a few years ago. Now, though, Raphael realized he tolerated it rather well. Maybe even liked it a little bit. Not that he'd tell his family that.

Leo hung up his phone and gestured towards the hallway as he headed to their apartment exit. Raphael quickly followed him and was surprised to find almost their entire clan, with the exception of Master Splinter, Miwa and little Shadow, standing out there in the hallway.

April had her arms wrapped around her middle and Raph watched as Casey tried to soothe her. Sadie stood to one side and watched as Donnie actually paced back and forth at the end of the hallway. And then Raphael focused on Woody, who was sporting a black eye he hadn't had when Raph had last seen him before lunch. He turned to Michelangelo next and found him leaning against one of the hallway walls with his arms crossed, looking sullen and upset.

Leo looked over their group as well. He had just hung up with Michelangelo who had called as he was finally driving Woody, April and Shadow home from the police station. Leo figured Woody must've called Sadie and told her about it as well based on Donnie's erratic pacing.

"Who wants to fill me in?" Raphael finally asked.

"Stockman tried to grab my kid at her soccer practice today," Casey said, as he finally decided to just pull April into him for a hug.

Raphael's eyes widened. "Where is she?"

"She's inside," Casey said, gesturing towards their apartment door. "Master Splinter is making her some of his special cocoa."

"And Stockman?" Raph asked.

"He was arrested," Woody said. He glanced over at his sister. It was only after Stockman had been taken into custody that he realized he was one of the men Sadie had had to testify against in court years ago. They'd been briefly told what had happened to Leo and Raph and their helicopter adventure yesterday, but he hadn't put it together that this was that same creep who had helped kidnap his sister.

"What happened to your eye?" Raph asked Woody.

"He decided to take down Stockman himself," Mikey said, his tone unnaturally neutral as he continued to lean against the wall behind him.

"Woody saved Shadow," April said, sending Woody yet another grateful look. "He was by her side before I even realized Stockman was on the field. He kicked him in the stomach when he tried to grab Shadow and then tackled him to the ground until the police arrived."

"The guy elbowed me in the eye on his way down," Woody said to Raphael.

"Damn, Woody," Raph said, thoroughly impressed. "I thought you were a pacifist."

"Not when his niece was in danger," Sadie said, smiling over at her brother.

Woody nodded back at his sister before glancing back at Mikey again. He, April and Shadow had ridden in police cars to the station to give their statements against Stockman while Mikey had followed them and waited in the food truck outside until they were finished so he could drive them all home. Mikey had clearly sat stewing over something while they'd been inside and Woody wasn't exactly sure what that was.

Raph glanced over at Leo and found him glaring at the ground again.

"Why does he want Shadow?" Casey demanded.

April's eyes lifted to Donnie and Donnie stopped pacing and met her gaze.

"Because he's figured out that he needs April's DNA to make working retromutagen," Donnie said. "And Shadow has April's DNA."

"And he figured it would be easier to grab a small kid," Casey said in realization as he tightened his hold around April. "Thank you, Woody," he said, sending the guy a grateful look as well.

"Well, Shadow also broke the guy's nose with her soccer ball," Woody said.

Raphael shared a small smirk with Casey before he turned back to Leo again. "What's up, Fearless?"

Leo finally stopped glaring at the ground and lifted his eyes to Raphael's. "Stockman isn't going to stop," he said.

"He's in jail now," Casey said, glaring at Leo. He didn't want Leo freaking April out any more than she already was.

"He got out of a maximum security prison," Sadie said. "He'll get out again. He could be out already right now."

"This is a very secure building," Donnie said, shooting Casey a reassuring look.

"Might not be enough for a mad scientist, though, Don," Leo said.

"Are ya tryin to give April nightmares here, Leo?" Casey demanded.

"He's thinkin of the safety of this whole clan, includin April and Shadow, Case," Raphael said in a grumble.

"So where do we go?" April said, running her hand down Casey's arm to calm him. "He'll find us at the beach house and there's no way he wouldn't find us out at a farmhouse that has my name on the deed."

Raphael looked to Leo and began shaking his head even before Leo opened his mouth. "No," he said to Leo. "No way."

Leo shrugged apologetically at Raph. "We have to take them someplace Stockman can't go."


	8. Chapter 8

Miwa ran a hand over her hair to make sure no strands were sticking up funny thanks to the summer heat and then rolled her eyes at herself as she entered the security code and pushed the first floor lab door open.

Gray eyes moved from a microscope over to her and brightened.

"Hey you're back early from the trip!" Sam said, straightening. "Was it too much family time? You guys drive each other crazy?"

She couldn't help but laugh as she shook her head and came to stand on the other side of the lab table where he worked. "No, nothing like that," she said. "We actually spend a great deal of time together on an every day basis."

He waited a moment and when he realized she wasn't going to tell him why they'd all returned early, just like Sadie and Donatello hadn't either, he shrugged internally and refocused on her. She looked a little nervous and he couldn't help but secretly hope that it was because of him. She certainly made his heart beat a little faster when he saw her.

"So did you come visit so you could see all the cool stuff I'm working on?"

"Um, no," Miwa said, moving around the table to stand on the side he was on. She eyed the paperwork in front of him. She hadn't told Donatello or Sadie that she was coming down here to talk to him. And what she wanted would take time away from whatever projects they had him working on.

He watched her move closer to him and her honey scent made his stomach squirm. He watched her eyes flitter over his work station and he thought how fitting it was that she would smell like honey since her eyes appeared to be a golden honey color.

"Did you come to take me up on my offer to let you touch stuff in the lab?"

Miwa lifted her eyes to him as his statement gave her a sudden visual image that made her blush inside and out. And she swore his voice was huskier than it had been a moment before. His eyes seemed to be roaming over her face and her eyes returned once more to his hand resting on the lab table top. She wanted to loop her fingers through his long fingers. She wanted his hands on his face and in her hair.

She took a step backwards. In morning trainings, she was able to easily flip one of her two-hundred plus pound turtle brothers. It was ridiculous how flustered she was getting around this one human.

"I have a favor to ask you," she finally managed to say.

* * *

"Please stop scowling at me."

Raph responded with a disgruntled noise in his throat as he looked around their new _temporary_ bedroom.

Usagi had greeted them when they arrived in his dimension earlier and led them to an extended stay hotel near his apartment. Machi had held tight to Raph's hand as their group had walked down the dark city street but still managed to happily skip and hum to herself. But Raph had watched as Akito appeared a little freaked out to be openly walking down a city street, even if it there were few others out this late at night. And Raph had to admit that even he had felt a little weirded out just walking up to the hotel registration desk to check in. Although, he did smirk a little bit at the weird looks their human family members were getting from the natural animal residents of this world.

Miwa had stayed behind after declaring that she would have her Foot ninjas running day and night patrols to search for Stockman, who had escaped from jail that very night, and Fishface. Casey had stayed behind as well, only after making Raph swear to him that he would keep April and Shadow safe. Casey claimed to be staying behind to keep their garage up and running. But Raph was pretty sure he was going to join the Foot on patrols. Raph couldn't blame the guy, since Stockman had been inches away from grabbing Casey's daughter, but Raph hoped Casey didn't do anything stupid without the rest of them around.

The extended stay hotel had the advantage of letting them rent out something that resembled apartments. He and Leo had one with three bedrooms, giving them their own bedroom, April her own bedroom and Shadow and Machi were sharing the third while Akito opted for the couch in the main room. Donnie, Sadie, Mike and Woody were in an apartment set-up next door with two bedrooms.

Leo had refused to let either Donnie or Mikey stay behind, although they had both managed to argue with him about the decision back in their own apartment building hallway. But Leo claimed he didn't want to chance having Stockman create an actual working retromutagen and get anywhere near them.

"But no April DNA, no retromutagen," Donnie had said, thinking of all the projects he had currently running in his lab that he didn't want to leave behind.

"You should know better, Donnie," Leo said. "If he tracked Shadow down, he could easily track down some cup April drank out of or some hair that fell off her head somewhere at the garage. He could pull DNA from those things, right?"

Donnie had sighed in resignation and went to join Sadie to pack. Sadie supposed she could've stayed behind and kept some of Donnie's projects going, but she was feeling a little creeped out knowing Stockman was running around the city. She'd already had her fill of experiences with that creep.

Leo had been surprised that he'd had to force Mikey to come along, since Mikey was usually up for any kind of family outing. But he didn't really give Leo any real reason for wanting to stay behind and had eventually agreed to leave with them. Woody wanted to be where Mikey was and since he couldn't run the food truck without him anyway, he had quickly repacked the suitcase he had just unpacked that morning from their beach trip.

Master Splinter had opted to stay behind with Miwa, which Raph knew made Leo nervous but there was no talking their own sensei into doing something when he'd already made up his mind. After discussing it, the brothers figured there was a slim to none chance that Stockman would get anywhere near Master Splinter with a retromutagen. And even if he did, their father wouldn't turn into a mindless animal but back into his human form, so they wouldn't really lose him, per se.

Still, after their dimension-hopping past, the last thing Raphael ever wanted to do with Leo was jump dimensions, especially to Usagi's dimension. But he knew Leo brought them here because not only did they have the rabbit to help them settle in somewhere, but it was a relatively safe place for them to stay.

"At least you and I are together this time, right?" Leo asked as he unbuckled his swords and leaned against the wall by the door. "And we came here willingly. Really, it's like a mini vacation."

Raph eyed him. Leo was keeping his voice neutral but those blue eyes were already teasing him.

"Ya know, at least when I whisked you away somewhere it was to a _nice_ place," Raph said, crossing his arms for emphasis as he watched Leo move closer to him.

"You don't think this place is nice?"

Raphael narrowed his eyes at Leo. Leo adding a purring quality to his voice was cheating and Leo knew it. Raph scowled harder.

"We have a view of that bowling alley next door," Leo said, slowly moving closer to Raphael. "Bedding that looks like it might scratch us when we touch it. And I bet we only have to share the bathroom with two or three roaches."

"Not funny, Fearless," Raph said, poking a finger into Leo's plastron.

Leo grabbed Raph's hand and pulled the finger Raph had been poking him with into his mouth as Raph barely managed to contain a gasp.

"That's definitely cheating," Raph finally growled at him as he felt Leo's tongue slide up and down his finger.

Leo released Raph's hand. "I'll make you a deal," he purred back at Raph, trying to keep the smirk off his face since it wouldn't help him persuade Raphael. "You stop scowling at me and I'll let you put a few new scratches on my shell on that itchy-looking bedding."

Raph eyed the bedding again before he stopped scowling and instead smiled at Leo. "Alright," Raph said. "I know this wouldn't be yer first choice for a family trip _and_ we wouldn't have come if ya didn't think it would keep everyone safe. And I'm sorry for givin ya a hard time when I know Mike and Don already gave ya hard time about comin."

"But?" Leo asked, suspiciously. He appreciated the acknowledgement of the stress he'd already been through to get them this far in the last several hours, but he knew Raph was leading up to something.

"But there is no way in hell I'm goin anywhere near that itchy blanket," Raph said with a smirk.

Leo rolled his eyes. "I guess you've already forgotten what our bedding used to look like when we were growing up. _In the sewers_. You've clearly been spoiled by those microfiber sheets we sleep on now."

"Damn straight."

In one swift motion, Leo grabbed the corner of the top blanket and whipped it off the bed.

"Better, princess?"

Leo released a loud laugh in the next moment as he was tackled into the opposite wall.

"Yer gettin those scratches now, ya jerk."

* * *

Woody watched as Michelangelo sat at the edge of their hotel bed and absentmindedly spun one of his nun-chucks in one hand.

"You gonna tell me what's bothering you or am I gonna have to twenty questions it out of you?" Woody asked. He got no response from Mikey. "Wait, wait, let's do the twenty questions," he said quickly as if he was actually trying to talk over the silent turtle. "Um, animal, vegetable or mineral?"

Mikey stopped spinning his chucks and turned his sullen face to Woody.

"I'm going with animal," Woody said, a small smile spreading across his lips. "Is it larger than a pizza box?"

Mikey sighed. "Woodrow."

"Uh oh. It is serious if you're pullin out my full name," Woody said, still trying to sound like he was teasing. "Come on, Mikester, just tell me. Are you mad about the black eye? Because I know _you_ would've dodged the elbow-,"

"You shouldn't have had to dodge Stockman's elbow," Mikey said, standing up and tossing his nun-chucks on the bed.

Woody frowned. "I know you're not mad that I helped saved Shadow, so-,"

"Of course not!" Mikey said. "Dude, I'm _mad_ that Stockman tried to grab our niece and then _injured you_ while I sat like a hundred feet away completely useless in our truck."

Woody's frown fell off his face. "Mike," he said.

"Forget it," Mikey said, turning his shell to Woody while he began pushing his elbow pads off. He heard Woody repeat his name, although it sounded like Woody was suddenly right behind him. He turned to face Woody again but was suddenly knocked back a step by a swift kick to his plastron before Woody lunged for the tops of his legs and knocked him off balance to the ground. He landed on his shell and couldn't help but let a small smile escape as Woody straddled his waist and pinned his unresisting hands to the floor beneath them.

Woody smiled back at his freckled turtle. "Do you know who taught me that move?"

Mikey tried to bite back his smile but couldn't at the sight of a triumphant Woody breathing fast as he sat on top of him.

"Even if you're not with me, Mike, you're always _with me_. Got it?"

"Got it, dude," Mikey said, fully smiling back at his blonde human. "Now let go of my hands. I've got another move I'd like to show you."

Woody let out a chuckle as he released Mikey's hands.


	9. Chapter 9

"Yer not coming with us?"

"We have an appointment," Sadie said, wrapping her fingers around Donnie's hand.

Their group had had breakfast together and they were waiting in the hotel lobby for their ride for the day. This was the first Leo had heard that Donnie and Sadie weren't joining them.

"How do you have an appointment, dude? We don't live here," Mikey said, raising an eye ridge at Sadie and his brother.

"We'll see you at dinner," Donnie said, wrapping his arm around Sadie's shoulder and leading her out of the hotel lobby.

Raph exchanged a look with Leo and shrugged as they headed out to the van that had just pulled up to the curb. Leo grinned into the van at his bunny students and opened the front passenger door for April as he watched the rest of his group climb into the back of the van. He climbed in last and sat next to Raphael.

Akito squeezed into the back and seated himself down next to Violet, who quickly pulled his hand into her own and smiled at him.

"This is going to be fun," she whispered to him. She smiled as she watched him duck his face before smiling back at her. She was excited to finally have Akito in her own dimension. She loved seeing him in the Hamato dojo or when she got to join the Hamatos on their family trips. But being able to show him around her world and walk out in the open with him was beyond exciting.

"Where are we headed?" Leo asked as Usagi pulled the van away from the curb and began driving them through the city. Usagi had called him that morning and offered to take Leo and the group out today to keep them busy.

"Well, my vote was for a local museum that displays artifacts of our land's history," Usagi said.

Raph heard a few grumbles from the bunnies in the back and silently agreed with them.

"But, I was out-voted by my nieces and nephews," Usagi finished. "And then they said I couldn't tell you where we are actually going."

Leo sat back and squeezed the top of Raph's thigh as he listened to April ask Usagi questions about the landmarks they were passing.

Raph placed his hand on top of Leo's as he continued to look out the window himself, mainly to memorize the route they were taking. He didn't like not knowing where they were going, but he wasn't about to try and force the rabbit tell them. He turned when he felt Leo settle into his side though and smirked as he watched Leo quickly fall asleep. He supposed it had been a few long days and he had kept Leo up pretty late the night before after Leo's _princess_ remark. He wrapped an arm around Leo and pulled him closer into his side. He briefly received a glare from Usagi in the rearview mirror which he did his best to ignore before he turned his attention back out the window.

Leo was startled awake about forty-five minutes later by Mikey's classically loud, "Yeah boy!" screeched near his ear as they pulled into the parking lot of a large amusement park. He sat up as Raph reached back and smacked Mikey in the shoulder as payback for Leo's rude wake-up before they all climbed out of the van and bought tickets at the main gate.

Raph watched Leo's eyes widen as Akito quickly asked if he and the bunnies could go off by themselves in the park if they promised to all stay together.

"This seems pretty open," Leo said. He felt Usagi's hand on his shoulder and turned to him as he also heard a low growl from Raphael.

"This is my world now, Leonardo. They will be safe here," Usagi said to him. "We will meet them for lunch at a designated time."

"Me too?" Machi asked, hopping up and down.

"No way, kid," Raph said. "Yer stickin with us."

As they waited for Leo to finish setting up ground rules with the teens, Raph watched Mikey and Woody take off by themselves with a quick backwards wave at the rest of the group. Then he took Machi's hand as they began to walk through the park. He watched Machi's eyes widen as they turned a corner and came upon a roller coaster. She pulled on his hand and squealed, "That one, papa!" and he laughed and let her pull him into the line with April and Shadow following. He glanced back at Leo and scowled again when he saw the rabbit's hand back on Leo's shoulder, stopping him from joining them.

"You're not very subtle, scowly face," April said.

"Well neither is he," Raph grumbled back as the line moved forward.

"Leo doesn't seem to notice either of you, though," April said.

Raph grumbled again. Leo wasn't visibly acknowledging the two of them, but Raph knew better than April. Leo _noticed_ everything.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you haven't actually told me why you're here, Leonardo," Usagi said, gesturing them over to a bench where they could watch the roller coaster.

Usagi had been told about Stockman and Fishface once Leo and Raph had been picked up after the helicopter incident, so Leo quickly filled him in on Shadow's attempted kidnapping by Stockman the day before.

"So, April and little Shadow hold a key ingredient to making something that could destroy you and your brothers?"

"Yes, that's why I brought them here. Stockman won't hesitate to hurt either of them to get what he wants from them," Leo said.

Usagi watched Leonardo as he spoke. He wished he would relax and focus his blue eyes on him. But his turtle friend was not used to being out in the open like this. So, instead, he watched as Leonardo alternated between eyeing others who walked passed them and glancing up at the roller coaster looking for the cars that would hold his family.

"Plus, I'd really like to avoid retromutagen," Leo continued, giving off a small, humorless laugh.

"Of course," Usagi said, fiercely. "We have to keep you away from that substance." He shuddered at the thought. "What is the plan?"

"Right now I'm letting Miwa and the Foot search for Stockman and Fishface," Leo said, "Oh, here they come."

Usagi watched as Leonardo stood and walked to the fence by the roller coaster so he could wave at his group as they zoomed past. Usagi rarely had Leonardo truly alone and he found himself taking advantage of his current freedom to run his eyes over the lean, muscular legs and broad shoulders. He took in Leo's bright eyes, a blue that had become Usagi's favorite color, and admired his easy grin as he watched his family get soaked at the end of the ride. But he cringed inwardly a few moments later when Leonardo's family rejoined them and he watched his friend wrap his arms around Raphael's shoulders and pull him in to kiss him.

Leo laughed as he watched Machi shake her whole body to try to get rid of the excess water in her fur while April squeezed out her hair and Shadow complained about having soggy shoes.

"You're the only one not upset about the water surprise at the end," Leo said, sliding his hands down Raph's arms and taking hold of one hand to hold.

"Hey, I have to deal with wet elbow and knee pads," Raph said. "So uncomfortable," he mock whined before barking out a laugh as April swatted at him in retaliation for the teasing.

"Daddy would love that ride!" Shadow said, watching the next round of cars speed by. "I wish he was here."

Raph let go of Leo's hand to swoop down and lift Shadow up on his shoulders. "No way, kid. Yer dad would never ride that ride. He'd wimp out."

"Would not," Shadow said, giggling as they began walking off to find a new ride.

Leo took Machi's hand and followed along, glancing back and nodding at April and Usagi as they followed along.

* * *

"Come on," Violet said, pulling Akito into a moving car for the haunted mansion ride. "I always kind of wished you were here to ride this with me," she said to him as she happily snuggled into his side.

"Why? Is it scary?" Akito asked, happily wrapping an arm around her shoulders in return. Akito had seen Violet kick ass in the dojo. She didn't seem like the type of girl to get scared easily.

"No," Violet said, "but its dark."

Akito's head jerked towards her as the car they were in spun around so they were suddenly facing a living room set-up with ghosts slowly moving around the room. Violet looked up at him shyly, shocked at her own brave statement. But this was Akito she was with. Brave, cute, sweet and protective Akito. So she squeezed the hand that wasn't wrapped around her shoulders before leaning up and kissing him.

Akito was shocked. For a moment. But then his eyes slid shut and other senses began to take over as his mouth moved easily against hers. He felt a warmth fill his chest and the arm he had wrapped around her shoulders pulled her closer to him. He heard a small approving noise from that her that made him tighten his hold on her even more.

The cart they were in spun quickly and the force of the spin suddenly forced their faces apart. Akito managed to keep his tight hold on her but their eyes popped open and they were suddenly staring at each other.

Violet giggled first and Akito followed. They were still laughing when the cart spun again and they were stuck squinting in the sudden sunlight. Akito focused on Violet's face again and quickly kissed her forehead before they had to jump out of the moving cart to exit. Akito looped his fingers through Violet's fingers as they were joined by her siblings and the two of them shared a secret smile before heading to one of the outside cafés where they met up with the rest of the family for lunch.

Raph smiled to himself as he watched Leo subtly but firmly squeeze Akito's shoulder at the table, reassuring himself that their son was safe and sound. After asking Akito and the bunnies what rides they'd been on so far, Leo returned to Raph's side to eat his own lunch and Raph smiled to himself once again as he felt Leo's foot rub against his under the table.

"Are ya havin fun?" Raph rumbled over to him.

"We've never been to an amusement park before," Leo said, grinning back at him.

"That's not true. We went to Coney Is-,"

"No," Leo said, shaking his head while still grinning at Raphael. "Running from Bebop and Rocksteady _through_ an amusement park does not count."

"Aw, come on Fearless, we got to ride a roller coaster," Raph said, pushing his foot back against Leo's foot. "Takin the rhino-man out with it was just an extra bonus."

Leo shook his head at Raph but said, "You're right. In fact, I think they should probably add that effect to more roller coasters."

"Today is fun, though, too," Raph said, leaning over to kiss the side of Leo's face as Leo chewed. "It's definitely nice to walk around in public with ya like this."

"Kids seem to like it too," Leo said, watching Machi giggle in the sunlight with Shadow at the table next to them.

"Hey, dad, we're going to ride some more rides," Akito said, coming up to them.

"Yer sure you don't want to ride some rides with us?" Raph asked him and Leo turned to watch the lower lip jut out and smirked at Raph's classic pout face before elbowing Raph in the side.

"We'll see you at the front gates in three hours to head back," Leo said, nodding his head to the side to gesture to Akito that he better get moving if he wanted to escape before Raphael turned the guilt trip on to full power. Akito smiled at him in return and darted off with the bunnies.

The rest of them cleared their garbage from lunch before Leo was pulled in the direction of a spinning ride by Machi with Shadow and April quickly following, leaving Raphael suddenly alone with Usagi.

They stood side by side to watch the ride in silence for a few moments before Raphael said, "Yer bein especially irritatin today, rabbit."

"You were the one who had to come to my world for help. You couldn't protect Leonardo in your own world? Running away from your enemy this time instead of fighting?" Usagi quickly responded.

Raph scowled but continued to look straight ahead. He'd approached the rabbit about his behavior towards Leo before over the last few years, but this was the first time Usagi openly displayed hostility back to Raphael.

"Comin here was Leo's idea. Not mine. And we're not _runnin_ from Stockman. We have to keep April and Shadow safe," Raph growled back at him.

"I find it strange that you would remain friends with someone who walks around with the key to your very destruction," Usagi said.

"Well that's probably because you seem to have a warped view on what friendship looks like," Raph responded.

"Leonardo has never complained about my friendship," Usagi said.

Raph huffed out an irritated sound but turned away from the rabbit as Leo and their family members came over to rejoin them.

Leo was grinning at Machi's funny reenactment of his face as they rode that last ride and forced the grin to stay on his face as he took in Raph's tense muscles. Raphael had ducked his eyes when they had walked over and currently appeared to be examining some gum on the concrete ground. Leo's eyes moved over to Usagi and watched as his friend smiled easily at him before directing the group down the path to another group of rides.

Leo let April, Shadow and Machi follow Usagi to allow the others to get a few steps ahead of them before he grabbed Raph's hand and spun him towards him. He covered Raph's mouth with his own and squeezed the hand he was holding until he felt Raphael relax beneath his mouth. He pulled back so those green eyes would focus on him and smiled at Raphael in return.

"I want to go on a ride with you."

Raph smiled back at him. "OK. My pick."

Leo laughed as they began walking to catch back up with their group.

* * *

Leo mournfully glanced over at the carousel Machi was in line for with April and Shadow before his eyes moved back to Raphael's choice at the amusement park. It was currently a blur that looked like a spinning, flipping beam of death. And, apparently, it was a spinning, flipping beam of death that he was about to willingly climb into it. He unconsciously squeezed Raph's fingers a little tighter between his own.

Raph noticed the squeeze and he moved his excited eyes away from the pendulum ride and over to Leo's face.

"Really?" Raph asked, trying to hide the smirk from his face as he recognized the nervousness written all over Leo's face.

"What?" Leo asked, refusing to meet Raph's eyes.

Most of the rides Leo had already willingly been on with Machi involved fast-paced spinning, so Raph doubted that was the problem with this one. He realized this was going to be the first one to throw Leo through the air. While also spinning him upside down. Repeatedly.

"You flip off rooftops," Raph said.

"Rooftops don't have rusty screws holding them together."

The next available two person cart opened in front of them and Raph tugged his nervous mate into it. The attendant closed them in with a loud clank of metal and Leo watched him fasten the door from the outside.

"You realize we're essentially locked in a cage?" Leo muttered.

"Ya know why I chose this one?" Raph asked him, ignoring Leo's last remark as he wrapped an arm around Leo's shoulders in the enclosed space.

"You believe gravity is something that should be challenged?"

Raph huffed out a laugh. "No, Fearless. I chose it because it's the only ride I've seen where I could keep you squished into my side in semi-privacy." He nuzzled his face into Leo's neck.

They were suddenly jerked upwards in a short, quick movement before they stalled again so that the cart behind them could also be filled.

Leo peered out through the side of their metal cage to examine how far they were from the ground. It wasn't exactly the height he was uncomfortable with, but his lack of trust that whoever assembled this metal machine knew what they were doing. He had a sudden image of their cart being heaved across the amusement park with the first swing of the pendulum and he had to wonder whose bright idea it was to place a row of children's rides right next to this spinning metal contraption. He turned back to Raph to voice his concern but his open mouth was quickly covered by Raph's mouth and his concerns were momentarily forgotten.

"Yer not allowed to worry right now," Raph said quickly before pressing his lips to Leo's once more. He pushed his tongue into Leo's mouth and twisted it around Leo's, happy with Leo's quick and easy response.

The arm around Leo's shoulders tightened while Raph's other hand moved to Leo's knee. He lightly slid his fingers from the knee up towards Leo's plastron before applying more pressure to his fingertips as he slid his hand back down towards Leo's knee again. He loved the feeling of Leo's leg muscles shifting under his fingers.

Their cart shifted upward once more before halting again to allow the next pair to climb into the ride and Leo found himself sighing into Raph's mouth as those warm, unintentionally arousing fingers moved over the top of his leg. He could tell Raph was working to keep those fingers moving in a soothing pattern but a soft churr rolled its way up Leo's throat anyway. He opened his eyes when Raph pulled his mouth away and saw a small smile on Raph's face. It was the smile he saved for Leo. The one only Leo got to see.

"I'm barely touchin you," Raph whispered over to him as their cart shifted upwards and stopped one more time.

"I know," Leo said, trying his best to scowl. "Its ridiculous how much power your fingers hold over me."

"Ridiculous?" Raph asked, still smiling, "or one of my most favorite things about ya?"

Leo laughed and elbowed him sharply in the plastron. But before he could respond further, their cart lifted again, only this time with more purpose. With the first upward fling into the air, Leo's body actually rose up off their shared seat. Raph's bulky body, however, didn't budge and Raph chuckled as he tightened his hold around Leo and pulled him back down and into his side.

Leo's eyes darted out the side of their enclosed cart and he was immediately grateful to see that despite the strong force at which they were being spun through the air, their metal cage was still attached to the spinning, flipping beam of death Raphael had chosen for them. Then Raph's fingers were pulling on his chin so that his attention was returned to Raphael's face. And Raphael's lips.

And Leo pressed himself closer to Raph's side as he began to think that perhaps Raph did have the right idea. He finally focused on this small space that, for the moment, was theirs and theirs alone. No family responsibilities. No one to protect and keep safe. He let himself relax against Raphael's mouth as Raph's fingers slid from his chin to his neck.

Their cart flipped again and once again Leo was lifted from his seat before Raph's grip tightened again to pull him back down. Leo smiled through their kiss as the fear of the ride was actually forgotten. He pulled back to smile at his favorite turtle. "I'm really never safer than when I'm with you," Leo said, bumping his nose into Raph's nose as he spoke.

Raphael's green eyes scanned over Leo's sincere face. Although Leonardo had been his mate for fourteen years now, Leo was still the well-respected leader of their entire clan. And while Raph knew exactly how Leo felt about him, it still equally pleased and shocked him that all Leonardo needed to feel secure was Raph's mere presence.

"Even when I force ya on rides that were probably assembled fifty years ago and appear to have had very poor maintenance?" Raph teased, trying his best to cover his flushed response to Leo's previous words.

Leo growled at him and shook his head with a scowl, but still said, "Yes, even then."

* * *

Usagi pulled the van back up to the curb outside the Hamato's hotel and Leo opened the side door and let his family jump out. He watched April head in with Machi and Shadow trailing closely behind her. Mikey and Woody jumped out next and Leo laughed when he finally noticed that Mikey must've stopped at one of the face painting stations because he had an elaborate sun painted on the top right side of his shell. He looked to the back of the van next and found Akito and Violet still whispering to each other before he turned to Raph who was waiting next to him.

"Do you mind keeping an eye on everyone through dinner?" Leo asked him quietly. He watched Raph's green eyes narrow in question at him. "I'd really like to head back with Usagi and meet with his sister while we're here. I rarely get to talk to her directly."

Raphael wanted to protest. Loudly. But Leo didn't get to talk to the bunnies' mother often, even though he'd been training her children for roughly eight years already. And Raphael knew Leo would feel better leaving April and the kids _only_ if Raph was there to watch over them.

Raph watched as Akito climbed out of the van and stood next to them as well. He glanced between his fathers as he felt a strange tension in the air. His pops glanced at him before gruffly nodding a response to his dad. Akito wanted to ask but knew it was best if he stayed out of it. He glanced back at Violet instead and smiled as she waved at him.

"I won't be long," Leo said, kissing Raph briefly before he climbed into the front passenger seat of the van.

Akito stood and listened to his pops grumble as the van drove away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I originally wrote this story, I didn't include Raph's choice for a ride in this chapter. Instead it was something I wrote later and posted on FF as a one-shot called "Pendulum". But to make things easier here, I included it right in the story, exactly where it should be in the timeline.


	10. Chapter 10

Usagi's sister was so ecstatic to have _Master Leonardo_ actually in her house that she set to work preparing a huge banquet for dinner and Leo soon found himself surrounded by not only his bunny students and their mother, but several of their neighbors as well. Everyone wanted to meet the sensei that the bunnies and Usagi spoke so highly of and Leo was quite grateful at the end of the meal when Usagi took him by the elbow and directed him out the front door so they could walk down the street to a local tavern.

Leo called the hotel when they arrived and Raph could hear how flustered Leo had been at all the attention he'd just received. But he couldn't hold his tongue when Leo told him his current plans.

"What do ya mean yer havin drinks with the rabbit?" Raph growled, turning his shell to April and the kids in the main room of their hotel apartment.

"One drink," Leo said.

"Ya don't drink at all," Raph growled. He was trying to keep his voice down but he could feel his anger building as he realized the stupid rabbit had finagled a way to have Leo to himself. In a bar. "Do ya want me to come pick ya up?"

"No. I don't want April or Shadow left alone. And I actually need to talk to Usagi about something so this is probably for the best," Leo said, turning to find that Usagi had managed to get them a table over in one corner of the room. He appeared to be ordering drinks from the waitress.

"We were supposed to stay together in this dimension."

Leo frowned to himself since he could hear Raphael was still growling. "Raphie," he said, hoping the nickname would soothe his disgruntled mate, "I'll be back soon. And I'm not by myself."

He heard Raph huff out a disgruntled noise before he hung up.

Leo made his way over to the table where Usagi sat and took the glass he was offered.

Usagi eyed Leonardo and noted he looked slightly upset. No doubt Raphael wasn't happy when Leonardo had called him. He wasn't going to ask him about it, though. He in no way wanted to talk about the red-clad turtle. For now, Usagi was thrilled to have Leonardo to himself.

Leo took a sip of his drink and his nose wrinkled at the taste. He began to open his mouth to speak but Usagi beat him to it.

"I couldn't help but notice how much fun Akito and Machi had today," Usagi said. "I'll admit it was nice to see them walking freely through their home dimension."

Leo nodded as he thought of Machi laughing as she skipped through the open amusement park today.

Usagi nodded as well as he quickly finished his drink and signaled for two more from the waitress.

"Keep up, ninja," Usagi said, pushing the second glass towards Leonardo.

Leo took another drink from his glass and made another face as it burned his throat. It was ridiculous that he was already feeling warm from half a glass. He shook his head as Usagi pushed the second glass towards him again.

"Leonardo, I think you should seriously consider moving here," Usagi said. "I know your family is close, but I have to wonder what future prospects Akito and Machi have while confined to the world you currently live in."

"The rest of us do fairly well in that world," Leo said, frowning. "And Raphael and I have had discussions on how to help the kids reach their goals."

"And you have to know what a success you would be here in this world," Usagi said, continuing as if Leo hadn't spoken. "You saw the reception you received at my sister's home. If you opened a dojo, it would be swarmed with new students." He finished his second drink and let the alcohol loosen the tongue he'd been holding for years. "You'd no doubt be swarmed with new students _and_ new admirers."

Leo leaned back and crossed his arms. "Usagi," he said, "we need to talk."

Usagi leaned forward across the table. "Agreed."

Leo took a breath. He'd been avoiding this conversation for a long time. But he'd seen Raphael upset today and was determined to prevent it from happening again no matter the outcome.

"You've mentioned my moving here more than once in the past. But you don't mention Raphael. Where does he fit into these plans you're making for me?"

"Leonarrrrdooo," Usagi said, drawing the turtle's name out longer than necessary. He glanced down at the almost empty glass in his hand and slowly set it back on the table. "I'm tired of waiting for Raphael to prove to you how unsuitable he is for you," he finally said. "You deserve to be with someone level-headed. To be with someone whose skills match your own. To live here with me in a world that doesn't see you as a monster but would treat you like a hero." He threw his arms out to his sides, indicating the bar but also trying to convey that he meant this whole dimension as he finally said the things he'd been waiting to say for years. "You should be here with me, Leonardo. _With me_. Not stuck with some hotheaded, brash underling just because your sense of family and duty binds you to him and to that world."

Leo's chest tightened and although he'd been feeling overly warm due to the alcohol in his system, he was suddenly feeling very cold. It was what he'd suspected but didn't want to believe. It was what Raphael had known all along.

Leo had always viewed Usagi as his friend. And he'd really been Leo's only friend from outside the family that he hadn't had to share with everyone else. Plus, Usagi was the one who had introduced Leo to the idea of teaching new students. And Usagi had been a good ally for his family as he had helped save Leo in the past more than once.

But none of it excused his blatant disregard for Raphael's position in Leo's life.

"Usagi," Leo said, slowly. "I'm sorry, but,"

Usagi dramatically rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

"I'm sorry that you have strong feelings for someone who does not return them," Leo continued, ignoring the eye roll. "I wouldn't wish that for anyone. And it was unintentional on my part. But, Usagi, Raphael," Leo paused as Raph filled his thoughts. "I wish you knew him better. If you knew anything about Raphael you'd see how well-suited he is for me. He keeps me balanced. And happy. I can't imagine my life without him. You see someone hot-headed and brash and I see a fierce warrior who has always protected our team." Leo paused again, staring hard at Usagi. "Look, I don't have to have defend Raphael to you, but if you'd ever asked me anything at all about him, the first thing I would've told you is that I've loved him for as long as I can remember."

Usagi downed the rest of his drink and then quickly stood. His hands slammed down on the table as a wave of dizziness hit him. He wasn't used to drinking that much that quickly and he cursed the alcohol for not allowing him to have the dramatic exit he desired.

Leo watched him wobble and stood as well. He'd left Raph tonight purposely to have this conversation with Usagi and he wasn't even sure how much of it Usagi had heard.

"I'll help you back to your sister's place," Leo said, thankful that her house was only a few blocks away. He guided Usagi past the other tables and back out onto the sidewalk before looping an arm around his unsteady friend's back.

Usagi's steps faltered but he stopped being frustrated with his clumsy limbs when he realized that with Leonardo's arm wrapped around him, he could easily turn his head towards that green neck and breathe in the turtle's scent. He looped an arm back around Leonardo and let his fingers trace over the grooves on Leonardo's shell. Usagi's steps faltered again, but he took advantage of the near trip to pull them into the alley they were passing and then push his off-balance friend into the side of the building.

"Wha-," Leo said, throwing his arms up to catch himself as he felt his shell hit the brick wall behind him. Under different circumstances, he might've laughed at his tipsy friend since he'd never seen a clumsy Usagi before. But he felt only anger when he realized Usagi's furry face was pressed into his neck and one of Usagi's knees was wedging its way between his legs.

"You smell so good, Leonardo," Usagi whispered to him as he raised his leg up between Leo's thighs. He took advantage of the close proximity and quickly licked and then kissed the neck in front of him.

Leo growled and shoved against Usagi's shoulders, but Usagi had been prepared for retaliation from Leo and had already dug his feet into the street beneath them to prevent Leo from shoving him away. He pushed back against Leonardo's shoulders and the sudden movement knocked Leo's head back into the wall behind him.

Leo groaned in pain before he knocked one of Usagi's ankles with his feet and threw him off balance enough to finally knock the strong rabbit back several feet with a hard shove.

"What are you doing?" Leo growled as he took a threatening step towards Usagi who wobbled but remained on his feet and glared back at Leo. "What is it about my relationship with Raphael that you do not understand?"

"Relationship," Usagi hissed. He took another step towards Leo. "What I understand is that you had an unruly teammate and you found a way to keep him in line. I was stuck in the bedroom next to you at that beach house and I got an earful of him _moaning your name_ , which means your technique must work wonders."

Leo stared hard at Usagi. "I am not in a relationship with Raphael to manipulate him into being a better teammate," Leo said very slowly in a low, dark voice. He wasn't convinced Usagi was listening to him since he clearly hadn't paid attention to anything Leo had said back at the bar. "I'm his and he's mine and it's been that way since we _hatched_. I'm sorry you don't understand that." Leo paused. "We can't be friends anymore, Usagi."

Usagi's eyes widened slightly and he took another step towards Leonardo. He watched the turtle take a step back.

Leo shook his head. He turned and left the alley in order to walk back to his hotel.


	11. Chapter 11

Leo knocked on Donnie and Mikey's hotel door but stayed in the hall when they answered. They indulged their big brother checking in on them with big grins before Leo moved to his own hotel room. He slipped silently inside the dark main room and saw Akito immediately pop up on the couch.

"Just me, buddy," Leo said, running his hand over Akito's furry arm as he walked past the back of the couch. "Go back to sleep."

He silently opened the bedroom door where Machi and Shadow were staying and looked in on both sleeping girls. He knew better than to disturb a sleeping April so he bypassed her room and went to the third bedroom door. He lifted his hand to the doorknob but then stopped to take a deep breath.

His head jerked up suddenly when the door whipped open and Raphael stood on the other side of it, peering out at him questioningly. He should've known Raph was tracking his movements since he entered the hotel room and would wonder why Leo paused outside their door.

Raph didn't ask him anything, though. He grabbed Leo's arm and pulled him into the room, shutting the door behind him. The room was dark except for the light that came from the television show Raphael had been watching.

"What's wrong?" Raph asked as he took in Leo's downcast face and hunched shoulders.

Leo reached forward and wrapped his arms around Raph's shoulders to pull him in for a hug, thankful to be back with his favorite turtle. "I'm so sorry, Raph," he whispered as he pressed his face into Raph's neck and let Raph's familiar scent comfort him as he felt Raph tense but also quickly return the hug by wrapping his arms around Leo's shell.

Raph pressed his face against the side of Leo's head and inhaled as well. But his happiness at Leo's return was short-lived when the scent he breathed in wasn't Leonardo's but alcohol, blood and the rabbit instead.

"Why do I smell blood?" he asked, deciding to focus on the scent that they typically associated with injuries.

One of Leo's hands left his shoulders and reached to the back of his own head. Leo looked up when he pulled the hand away and Raph's eyes widened as he saw traces of blood on Leo's fingers. He turned Leo around and pulled off his blue mask so he could better see the scrapes across the back of Leo's head.

"Yer gonna have a knot back here," Raph grumbled, lightly running his thumb over the bruising skin. He unbuckled Leo's katana and set them aside before he directed Leo to sit on their bed. Then he headed to the bathroom for a wet washcloth to clean the cuts.

"I'm so sorry, Raph," Leo said again, his head down as he stared at his hands.

Raphael eyed him as he returned and settled behind him to clean off his injury. Leo was clearly upset and it was tampering the anger he could feel building inside himself. He tried to keep his voice calm as he asked, "What happened, Leo?"

Leo shook his head. The anger he'd felt when he left Usagi had turned into a feeling of betrayal and sadness. He was having a hard time dealing with the fact that his friend of so many years had blatantly ignored what he'd been trying to say. Plus there was the neck licking bit.

"Hold still," Raph said, frowning at the back of his head. "And ya better start tellin me _right now_ what yer apologizin for."

Leo twisted around and he batted away the washcloth Raph was trying to use on his head. His blue eyes sought out Raph's eyes. "You knew," Leo said. "You knew how Usagi actually felt and I just ignored it." He ducked his eyes back down. "I'm sorry, Raph. It was pretty selfish, but I just ignored it because without Usagi I wouldn't have my students, which also means we wouldn't have Akito and Machi."

Raph turned Leo back around and quickly finished cleaning off his head. He was brushing actual rocks, albeit small ones, out of the skin, which meant Leo's head had hit something made of concrete or stone. He could feel the heat from his anger rising out of his chest. If Leo was saying all of this now, then the rabbit must have made a move that Leo couldn't ignore. He must've done something that Leo would've had to have dealt with.

"What'd he do, Leo?"

"He upset you today," Leo answered. "I've seen you glare at Usagi and grumble about his presence in the past, but today at the park, you were actually upset about something he must've said when you two were alone. And I decided that was enough. So I went with him tonight because I wanted to talk to him about you." Leo twisted back around again and faced Raphael on the bed. "I thought if I could tell him how much I love you, that he'd-,"

"Back off?" Raph asked, his eyes softening as he scanned over Leo's sad face. When Leo had told him earlier that he had something he wanted to discuss with Usagi, the last thing Raph would've guessed was that he was going to be the main topic of conversation. He pulled one of Leo's hands into his lap. "How'd that go?"

Leo sighed. "Not well," he said. "Raph, you _knew_ and it must've driven you bat-shit crazy. That's some serious self-control you've gained Hothead."

Raph released a small chuckle and squeezed Leo's hand. "Only for you, Leonardo."

"Why didn't you ever say anything to me?" Leo asked as he lifted his eyes to Raph's eyes again.

"Look, Leo, we don't – we don't get a lot of chances for friends, ya know? And you forgave Casey for that shit he pulled a few years ago and you saw the rabbit as a friend and I trusted you, at least, to keep it that way," Raph said, sighing. His eyes moved over Leo's face as he spoke. "And yer right, that damn rabbit is the reason you have students, which is somethin that has made you very happy. And, in a way, he's also the reason we have Akito and Machi. And they've made both of us very happy. Those kids made us our own little family unit apart from the larger clan and I've loved every minute of being their pops. And I'd just remind myself of that every time the rabbit twitched his ears at me."

"I'm sorry, Raph. If I had known he was bothering you that much-,"

"Leo," Raph said, trying to shush him. "I would've said somethin to ya if it bothered me too much. Why didn't ya tell me that was yer plan tonight?"

"Because I couldn't have you there while I had this discussion with him. And I knew enough to know you wouldn't want me to be off somewhere alone with him. But, I really wish you had been there, Raphie."

"Ya gonna finally tell me what happened?"

Leo eyed him and Raph felt his anger rise again when he realized it was bad enough that Leo was debating telling him the story.

"He told me how he felt about me and didn't listen to anything I had to say about my feelings for you," Leo finally said, trying to keep it as short as possible.

Raph raised his eye ridges after a moment of silence and said, "And then?"

"He had too much to drink. He was falling over himself so I offered to help him get back to his sister's house," Leo said as he looked away. He felt ashamed of himself for what came after. "Raph, you would've seen him coming from a mile away." Leo huffed out a breath as he thought of how he'd wrapped his arm around his drunk friend and walked down the street with him.

"Hey, Leo," Raph said, pulling Leo's guilt-stricken face back to him. "You weren't takin a stroll with the guy, you were tryin to be a good friend. And the bastard obviously took advantage of the situation, right?"

Leo nodded solemnly back at him. "I'm sorry, Raph."

"Don't you dare apologize for anything that fuckin rabbit did," Raph growled at him. He moved towards Leo, pushing him back on his shell so that he could climb over him. He settled his weight on top of Leo's body and leaned forward to cover Leo's mouth with his own. He felt Leo release a contented sigh into his mouth as they began kissing. Leo's tongue pushed into his mouth first and he twisted his tongue around Leo's in return.

Raph pulled his face away to keep himself from grinding his lower plastron into Leo. He knew they needed to finish talking about what happened tonight before he got too distracted with how dark Leo's blue eyes were getting.

"Where'd he touch ya?"

Leo's eyes refocused on Raph's face and he paused for another moment.

"You've got his scent on ya and I want to cover his damn furry pawprints," Raph said.

Without saying anything, Leo wrapped his hands around Raph's face and then turned his own head to the side so he could direct Raph's mouth to his neck. Raph released a growl before he began licking and kissing his way across Leo's neck. The only thing keeping his anger in check now was Leo's squirming under him as he began to pant and quietly moan under Raph's mouth.

"Where else?" Raph rumbled at him,

Leo only shook his head at Raph and pulled his emerald face back down so that he could attack Raph's neck in return.

"What happened to yer head?" Raph asked, rolling them so that Leo was suddenly looming over him and therefore no longer putting pressure on the back of his head. He busied himself by pulling off Leo's elbow pads and then untying his belt.

"I pushed him and he pushed back. I hit a wall," Leo said, easily adjusting to this new position as he rubbed his lower plastron against Raphael and earned a small moan from the emerald turtle beneath him. "Told him we couldn't be friends any longer."

Raph reached up and gripped the back of Leo's neck to make him focus on him for a moment. "That's not quite the punishment I have in mind for him, Fearless," he said pulling Leo's mouth back down for another kiss.

Leo pulled away from him far enough to try to focus his thoughts. "You can't attack him, Raph."

"Why the hell not?"

"We can't harm anyone while we're in this dimension."

"Yer gonna cite the political reason?" Raph said, an actual small smile forming on his face.

"Plus, I'm sure Usagi will feel terrible for his behavior when he wakes up in the morning."

"I can't attack him because he'll punish himself enough with his own _guilt_?" Raph asked, a look of disbelief now on his face. "He should feel bad. He should feel fuckin terrible." He ran his fingers over Leo's arm. No way the rabbit got close enough to touch Leo's neck and push him without putting his goddamn furry paws right on Raphael's mark on Leo's arm.

Leo stared hard at him. His hand moved down Raph's plastron and raised an eye ridge as he began to encourage Raphael to drop down.

"Cheater," Raph groaned as he dropped down and felt Leo's hand encircle him.

Leo froze and quickly sat up, straddling Raph's lap as he released Raphael and lifted his hands in the air. Raph felt the loss of Leo's fingers and peered up at him before he sat up as well. Leo looked spooked.

"Fearless?" he asked, trying to ignore his suddenly neglected lower half.

Leo ducked his eyes. "Usagi said I found a way to make an unruly teammate more cooperative," Leo said, lifting his guilt-stricken blue eyes back to Raph. "And look, I'm doing it right now."

Raph gripped Leo's shoulders and shook him a little. "No, Leo," he growled. "You listen to me, and forget what he said. Yer not playing with me just to get what you want. You love me. And I do the same thing to you," Raph said with a smile. "It's something fun we do. We tease."

Leo nodded. He pushed Usagi's words away. Raph was right. Leo moved his hands up to Raph's biceps and gave them a squeeze.

"Aishiteru, Leo," Raph whispered to him as he trailed his lips down the side of Leo's face. He watched Leo close his eyes and shift his face closer to Raph's mouth. "Even if ya never touched me again, I'd still stay right here by yer side."

Leo pushed Raph backwards so he landed on his shell beneath him once more. He held himself over Raphael and Raph immediately recognized the intent in Leo's darkened blue eyes.

"I could never do that, Raphie," Leo said as a churr rose up his throat. He lowered his face and kissed Raphael as he felt Raph's hands trail down his plastron and rub at his slit until Leo dropped down as well. He let out a low groan as Raphael churred and pulled them both within his large hand to begin stroking the two of them together.

Leo smiled as he tapped a finger over Raph's lips. Raphael obediently opened his mouth and pulled Leo's finger in, wetting it with his tongue before Leo pulled his hand back and moved the finger down to Raph's entrance. He pushed in his finger and heard a rumbling churr from Raphael. Leo rested his forehead on Raph's shoulder as he looked down and watched Raph's emerald hand move quickly over the two of them. He was beginning to pant out small breathy moans as all of his nerve endings began to shoot off sparks. He could hear Raph doing his best to keep quiet as well. The walls here were thin and they were both conscious of their roommates.

His finger probed deeper until he finally brushed against the bundle of nerves he was looking for and watched Raph's head thrash to the side as his grip tightened around them.

"Leo," Raph gasped out. He moved his lust-filled eyes to Leo's face.

Leo read the pleading look in Raph's eyes and immediately withdrew his finger. Raphael released him at the same time and he began to slowly move his hard length into Raphael.

"Faster, Leo, come on," Raph said, hooking an ankle around Leo's shell and pulling him towards him until Leo responded with quick thrusts into Raphael.

Raph churred and thrashed his head again in the next moment as Leo had rediscovered that bundle of nerves. Leo's head shot down and covered Raph's mouth with his own to muffle his otherwise loud moans as he reached his release. Raphael clung to him as it took him a few more thrusts to finish. He bit into Raph's neck to muffle himself as well before falling limp on top of Raphael's body. He breathed in Raphael's scent once again and loved how much stronger it always became in response to Leo's attention to the emerald body.

"I do love you, Raph," Leo whispered.

"Yes, you do," Raph said, chuckling.

"Promise me you won't go after him," Leo whispered, picking up where he'd left off earlier. "He was my friend and I took care of it."

Raph rolled them to the side and pulled a face at Leo. "Fine. But you can't take away me visually picturing how nice it would be to pull his fuckin ears off."

"No, I cannot," Leo said, shaking his head at Raph before he relaxed again him and closed his eyes for sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

"Finally," Sam said as soon as Miwa entered the lab from the street. "You were almost late for breakfast."

"Did we have breakfast plans?" Miwa asked before she'd even made it all the way through the door.

"We do now that you're here," Sam said. "I have blueberry muffins and fruit. Wasn't sure if you'd want coffee or tea or milk so I got one of each." Sam gestured to the lab table where he'd spread out everything he'd collected for a surprise breakfast earlier that morning.

He watched Miwa try to suppress a smile as she eyed the breakfast picnic.

"Is that a clean lab table?"

"Never been used," Sam said, grinning at her as he moved closer to the lab table, hoping she'd follow his lead. She seemed skittish and he figured the best way to get her to have breakfast with him was to just spring it on her.

Miwa watched him sit on a stool and she shrugged internally and then sat on a stool herself before picking up the mug of tea.

"What's your favorite breakfast food?" Sam asked her.

"My brother Michelangelo makes fruit-stuffed french toast which is pretty good. But I usually eat eggs and toast with my father every morning."

"Oh, is he expecting you?" Sam asked.

She watched as a small furrow formed between his eyebrows as he actually looked worried about keeping her from her breakfast with her father. She wanted to reach forward and smooth the crease away with her thumb.

"It's ok," she finally said. "I usually just show up after morning practice, so we don't actually have a set time."

"What kind of practice? And exactly how many brothers do you have?" Sam asked, taking a bite of muffin.

"You've got a lot of questions this morning," Miwa said, admiring his red hair as she spoke.

Sam grinned at her. "I'll admit I'd like to know you better."

"Is that because I'm the only one who stops in here to visit you?" she teased.

Sam laughed. "No it's not, although, you are the only one who stops in to visit. Donatello and Sadie are both gone again. Do they normally go on this many trips during the summer?"

Miwa shook her head at him. "Normally we can't drag them out of the lab. But -,"

"Something came up," Sam interjected. It was the quick explanation he'd received from Donatello via email before he and Sadie were gone again. "I still haven't even met Donatello in person." He took another bite of muffin and picked up the leftover coffee mug for a drink. "So your brothers are Donatello and Michelangelo."

"And," Miwa said after a short pause as she decided if she should continue sharing. "Leonardo and Raphael."

Sam laughed. "Goodness. Is Miwa actually short for something really long and Italian?"

Miwa laughed. "No."

"I like your laugh," Sam said, letting the words tumble out before he had time to stop them. He watched her cheeks turn pink.

"How is our secret project coming?" she asked, quickly trying to change the subject. She watched as a corner of his mouth turned up as he recognized what she was doing. He allowed it though because he turned away from her and picked up some sheets of paper off his workstation. He placed them in front of her.

"I think I figured out how to make it work. I'm still not real clear on its purpose, though."

Miwa eyed the papers in front of her. She could read and speak both English and Japanese. But not chemistry. Her eyes lifted back to him and she saw the question in his grey eyes. She wanted to tell him what it was for, but stopped herself each time he silently asked. She barely knew him. At least she told herself she barely knew him. Because, truthfully, every time she came within five feet of him, she felt such a strong pull that it made it seem like she'd known him forever.

"Where were you before this job?" she asked. Although, she wasn't actually looking for his employment history. She wanted to know his story. She wanted to know what took him so long to show up in her life.

He tilted his head at her and smiled, immediately pleased with her interest. "Can I tell you over dinner?"

Miwa didn't hesitate. She nodded.

"And you can tell me more about you?" Sam said, although it wasn't really a question. He watched Miwa frown for a moment. "What?" he asked.

"I don't want to scare you away at our first dinner," she said, trying to make her tone teasing but not sure how well she pulled it off. She wasn't used to flirting. Real flirting without kunoichi tricks to get what she wanted.

"Hey," Sam said, placing his hand on his chest, "I was turned into a Kraang mutant hybrid and transported to dig crystals out of their weird home planet." He'd been one of millions taken hostage by the Kraang and admitted it freely. He watched her eyes soften and realized it meant she hadn't been taken and he was immediately glad of it. "I doubt anything you have to share will scare me off."

She smiled at him. He really had no idea what he was getting into trying to get involved with her. But she liked him too much already to back away. She stood and carried her tea over to the door to the stairwell. "I better go. I do have a phone call appointment set up with my brothers and I should call before they get worried."

"Hey, wait, did you say _first dinner_?" Sam asked. "Like you're sure there will be more?" He grinned wide at her.

"I'll see you tonight," Miwa said, shaking her head as she slipped through the door and headed up to Donnie and Sadie's private lab to use the inter-dimensional phone. She pushed the call through and Leo's face soon appeared on the other side of the line.

"You're late," Leo said. He tipped his head. "Are you blushing again?"

Raph's face suddenly appeared in the screen as well. "Oh-ho, I think I know why she was late!"

"I wanna see!" Mikey said, pushing Raph away so he could look into the screen as well. "Was she that red before or is she blushing more because we're talking about her blushing?" Mikey asked, his grin wide. Just one of his blue eyes suddenly filled the screen as he zoomed into the camera. "Hey, Miwa if you want love advice, you come to me. I snagged Woody way before these other losers even thought about relationships."

"I thought I snagged you," Woody said from the couch across the room.

Miwa threw her head back and groaned. "You know, sometimes I really miss being an only child."

She watched Leo push Mikey's face away from the screen and focus on her again as he tried to hide a smile.

"Any news?" he asked her.

Miwa shook her head, frustrated to have to tell him no. "We've had absolutely zero sightings of Fishface or Stockman." She watched as Raphael appeared in the screen beside Leo again.

"We might have to go back and help look," Raph murmured to Leo. Leo turned to Raph and considered his words as Raphael turned back to Miwa. "What about Casey?" he asked. He watched April's head perk up from across the main room in their hotel room.

"We've kept our eye on him from a distance too," Miwa said with a smirk. "You were right. He's been out patrolling for them every night as well."

April rolled her eyes. She and Shadow were scheduled to have a phone call with Casey later that morning and she'd have an earful for him about patrolling alone.

"Just let us know if there's any changes," Leo said, getting ready to hang up with her.

"Wait," Miwa said, "can I, um, talk to Sadie and April? Alone?"

Leo frowned at her before a smile began to split his face as he realized she wanted to talk about something that wasn't related to patrols. "Why?" he asked innocently, trying not to laugh.

She glared at him. "Just put them on the phone, Leo!"

"Are you planning to use my inter-dimension phone invention for something not related to work?" Donnie asked as his head suddenly appeared above Leo's face as he stood behind the chair where Leo sat. She could see the gap in his teeth as he grinned at her. "Do you know the technology that's involved that's allowing us to talk to each other right now?"

"I am going to kill all of you when you get home," Miwa said.

"Give me that," April said, pulling the phone from Leo's hand. She shook her head at the turtle brothers and Sadie followed her into her own private hotel bedroom.

"So why _were_ you blushing?" April asked, picking up from the teasing she'd heard at the beginning of the call.

Miwa rolled her eyes at the two women she considered to be her sisters. She thought about hanging up but reminded herself that she needed their help. Specifically, she needed to know whose closet to raid before tonight.

"I have a dinner date with Sam."

* * *

Leo followed Raph into their bedroom and shut the door behind them. They were about to go downstairs with the whole group for breakfast but he figured they had a few minutes now that the girls were on the phone with Miwa.

Raph had come into the room to pull on his gear but turned when he realized Leo had joined him. Leo wrapped his arms around Raph's shoulders and pressed his face into his neck. Raph hugged him tight in return. He could feel the stress radiating off the turtle. Part of it was Usagi, but Raph knew most of it was sitting idly by waiting for Stockman to make a move. Raph wished that he could magically whisk Leo back to the beach so he could watch a stress-free Leo watch the waves again.

"What do you think about goin back?" he asked him.

Leo sighed and lifted his head to nod at Raph. "I think we should give it one more day. But then I think it'd be ok to leave April and Shadow here with Donnie and Mikey while we head back to help search as you suggested."

"As long as we stick together," Raph said, pulling Leo's body even closer to his own.

"Yes," Leo said, leaning forward to kiss his emerald turtle.

Their kiss was interrupted by a loud knock on their door. "Breakfast!" Mike said. "Lets go, I'm starving!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Confession - I did some research to find out Dr. Chaplin's first name, however, my search resulted in zilch. So in the end I had to just make it up.


	13. Chapter 13

Leo elbowed Mikey in the side for the fifth time as Mikey excitedly, but loudly, moved through the hotel's breakfast buffet line. Leo had woken up with a headache and it seemed like Mikey had his volume turned all the way up this morning.

"We should set up _all meals_ like this!" Mikey exclaimed, eyeing the fifteen breakfast choices.

"You do set up _all meals_ like this at your apartment," Leo said, pushing his little brother further down the line.

"Not like this, dude. They've got-,"

"I get it Mikey. _Everyone_ here gets it," Leo said as he helped Machi reach the yogurt she wanted. He followed Machi back to their table and sat down between her and Raphael.

"Violet called earlier," Akito said. He'd already finished his breakfast and was eager to get on with the rest of their day. "She wanted to know if we could do something with them. Can we?" He expected a quick answer but instead he watched his fathers exchange an unsure glance.

"I don't think we're gonna see them today," Raph said.

"I'm actually not sure when we're going to see them again, buddy," Leo said, wanting to be as straight-forward as possible with their son. "Let's just get through our current family problem, OK?" He could see that Akito wanted to protest and he knew he'd have to come up with a solution for their son concerning Violet. He didn't want Akito and Violet to suffer just because he and Usagi weren't going to be friends any longer.

"Yer dad and I might have to head home tonight or tomorrow to help yer Aunt Miwa," Raph pitched in. "And we're gonna need you to help yer uncles watch over Aunt April, Machi and Shadow."

"You're going back?" Donnie asked, his head twisting in their direction from his side of the table when he heard them talking to Akito.

"We can't just stay here forever and wait to see what Stockman might or might not do," Leo said.

"Yeah, but it's been like one day, dude," Mikey said, scrunching up his face.

"What if Stockman has actually made retromutagen?" Donnie asked. "You made us all come because we're supposed to be avoiding him."

"Don't you remember how bad it was when all the mutagen was sucked out of Raph at the farmhouse? I'm not going through that again," Mikey said.

Woody frowned next to Mikey as he watched Mike actually shudder. He'd never heard of any occasion where any of the turtles had been de-mutagenized. It hit him suddenly that he could actually lose Mikey if this Stockman guy got his way and he exchanged a quick worried glance with his sister across the table.

"Of course I remember that," Leo growled back at him. He subconsciously put his hand on Raph's forearm and squeezed.

"What happened?" Akito asked, his eyes wide as he heard his dad actually growl. Out of all his family members, he could always count on his Uncle Mikey to tell him stories about the missions the four turtle brothers went on as teenagers. But he'd never heard the one where his pops had all the mutagen sucked out of him.

Leo's eyes shot over to Akito and then down to Machi who was also listening intently. "That was an entirely different situation, Michelangelo," he said, shooting Mikey a warning glance.

Mikey ignored him. "Fine, you'd be turned into regular turtles instead of a plant-,"

"Papa turned into a plant?" Machi asked in a small voice.

"Just for a little while," April said from the other side of Machi as she rubbed the little fox's shoulder.

"I'm not sure that's helpful," Leo said.

Raph reached over and pried Leo's bruising fingers off his arm. Leo didn't seem to notice. His hand subconsciously moved to Raph's leg and held on tight there instead. This time his grip wasn't pinching like it had been on his arm, so Raph let Leo's hand stay there. He didn't actually remember the original farmhouse incident with The Creep at all. He remembered walking through the woods before The Creep captured him and then he remembered waking up to the worried faces of his family. Donnie had filled him in later and he was rather happy not to have any memory of it. He realized now, though, that Mike and Leo never talked about it and he noticed that the color had drained out of both their faces.

"He was actually kinda cute," Mikey said to Machi, trying his best to lighten the mood despite the pit in his stomach. "Part of him turned into a flower."

Leo rested his face in his both his hands. "Why can't we just have normal breakfast conversations?" he muttered.

"We haven't decided we're goin yet," Raph said, desperate to change the subject before his kids were traumatized and Leo and Mikey got any more depressed looking.

"Hey, Leo and Raph," Sadie said, anxious to change the subject as well. "Why don't you two go do something today and the rest of us will stay with the kids?"

Leo was about to protest when he felt Raph perk up next to him. He turned to his emerald turtle and his eyes softened when he saw Raph's eager face.

"Well, we are in a place where we're free to go anywhere in the city. And there are some things I've always wanted to do with ya," Raph said to him.

"In public?" Donatello asked from the other end of the table.

"Yes, _in public_ ," Raph said, smirking back at his brainy brother. He turned back to Leo. "I think they'd be OK if they all stuck together."

"OK," Leo conceded, before Raph had a chance to start jutting out his lower lip at him. "A couple hours."

* * *

Akito called Violet as soon as he returned to his hotel room with his aunts and uncles to tell her he probably wouldn't be seeing her today.

"Akito, I think something happened," Violet said, her voice low. "Uncle Usagi spent the night here on the couch last night. He just woke up and he said our ninjitsu training is completed and that we won't be going back to the Hamato dojo."

"What?" Akito asked, immediately alarmed. He thought back to the look his fathers had exchanged at breakfast. "My dad didn't say anything like this that this morning. But he did say he didn't know when we'd see you guys again."

"You're so close for a change," Violet said, her voice sad. "I want to see you."

Akito agreed with her. Sitting in this hotel room while she was practically down the street felt like a waste of time.

* * *

Leo didn't watch sports on television. Mainly because it seemed extremely lazy to sit still and watch others exercise in front of you. He didn't understand pinning his hopes on a particular team to win. Or yelling at a screen when no one you're yelling at can hear you. But, he realized, he didn't have those same feelings as he sat in a baseball stadium seat next to Raphael. There was something fun about watching the players in person and, unlike at home where he was bored to death between batters, there was plenty going on in the stadium to keep them entertained as the game moved along. Since they weren't familiar with either team, Raph had assigned them fans of the home team and Leo also noticed that it was hard not to be entertained as he watched Raphael's green eyes light up when someone scored a run or even turn to a scowl at every out.

Raph leaned over and bumped shoulders with him.

"Yes, its fun," Leo said in response, bumping his shoulder back. His earlier headache was forgotten as he enjoyed sitting outside in the sun. "You want a hot dog?" he asked as he watched a vendor begin to move towards their seating section.

"No. And don't ya eat either," Raph said.

"Why not?"

"I want you hungry," Raph said, shooting him a heated look.

"This isn't what I thought you meant when you said you wanted me hungry," Leo said thirty minutes later as they sat across from each other in a restaurant. Raph had pulled him from his seat in the stadium before the game had even ended and led him down the street without telling him where they were headed.

"I told Donnie-boy we were going to do fun things _in public_ ," Raph said. "And I always thought it would be nice to go out to eat with you in an actual restaurant."

"And you think I'm a dork," Leo said, grinning widely at him.

Raph did his best to ignore him by keeping his green eyes pinned to his own menu.

* * *

They entered their hotel room after their lunch and were surprised to find it empty. Raph picked up a note he found on the desk.

"April's note says they decided to go to a movie," Raph said.

"Does she say what time the movie starts?" Leo asked as Raph watched Leo disappear into their bedroom.

Raph followed him into the room and shut the door behind him. "Looks like it starts right about now," Raph said, pulling Leo around to face him.

Leo kept his eyes on Raphael's face as Raph reached forward to begin removing Leo's gear. Raph's fingers trailed over Leo's skin as he slid the elbow pads off Leo's arms and an immediate shiver of anticipation ran through Leo. Raph unbuckled Leo's katana and set them aside before he grabbed the knot in Leo's belt and used it to push Leo backwards so he landed on his shell with his legs over the side of the bed.

Leo propped himself up on his elbows and watched as Raphael began to push off his own gear. "Are we going to sleep this early?" Leo asked, smiling at him.

Raphael leaned forward and began pulling Leo's knee pads off. "No. I need somethin from ya," Raph said.

"What do you need?" Leo asked as a churr rose up his throat at the sight of Raphael towering over him.

Raph dropped to his own knees and let his fingers slide over the muscles in Leo's legs. His appreciation for Leo's legs rivaled the appreciation he knew Leo had for his arms. It was that knowledge that usually pushed him while he was lifting to do an extra set. "I need ya moanin my name." Raph husked out before his head dipped so he could lick over the leg muscles he admired.

"Raphie," Leo exhaled in a whisper as he twitched under Raph's tongue.

"Like that," Raph smirked. "But louder. And over and over again."

Leo smirked back at him. "You may have to work for that."

Raph's green eyes sparked as they lifted to Leo's face. He was game if Leo wanted to challenge him. He continued rubbing his hands over the muscles in Leo's legs and licked his way up to one of the creases between Leo's leg and plastron. He slid his tongue along the length of the crease and heard a churr from Leo. He moved his head to the other leg crease and gave it the same treatment as Leo squirmed beneath him.

Leo churred again but bit his lower lip to keep from moaning. He could feel his whole body begin to warm and he let himself drop back on his shell on the bed and off his elbows.

Raph reached forward and uncurled Leo's tail so he could drag his fingers down the length of it and smirked as he heard Leo's sharp inhale. He reached his tongue forward here as well and left a long wet stripe along Leo's tail before he leaned back and blew a breath onto the wet skin. He chuckled softly as Leo twitched away in response. His large hands wrapped around Leo's thighs and pulled him back into place before he pulled Leo's tail into his mouth and let it roll over his tongue as Leo's intoxicating scent filled his nose. He heard Leo release a contented sigh before he applied pressure and sucked the wriggling appendage with such ferocity that Leo churred again and arched as much as his shell would allow.

Raph released Leo's tail and his eyes moved to the bulge growing in Leo's lower plastron. "Drop down, Fearless,"

Leo did as he was told, already feeling desperate for Raph's touch, and he was rewarded with a strong emerald hand wrapped around him. Raph's strokes were slow and Leo moved his hips upward to create more friction, much to Raph's amusement. But instead of answering Leo's silent request, he moved his tongue again in order to circle Leo's entrance. He heard Leo gasp again and he pushed one of his fingers into the tight circle in response.

Leo's hips jerked forward again and this time he couldn't hold back as he moaned out Raphael's name.

Raph didn't take the time to smirk over his accomplishment. Instead, he lifted himself higher in order to pull Leo's length into his mouth. Leo groaned out in relief and reached down to clutch at Raphael's shoulders. Raphael knew Leo's body well enough to know where the bundle of nerves he was looking for was located and he happily listened to Leo moan out his name again when he found it.

He freed his mouth and smirked up at Leo. "I believe that's two already, Leonardo." He watched Leo bite his bottom lip again before he pulled Leo back into his mouth.

Leo felt Raph pull him towards his throat, and, although his fingers tightened around Raph's shoulders and his hips moved towards Raph's mouth, he refused to release any further sounds other than the loud panting which he absolutely could not help. The warmth that had begun in his arms and legs had turned into a raging heat that he always associated with Raphael. He was beginning to think about his impending release when Raphael's mouth and finger both suddenly left him.

"Raph?" he said, aware only after it left his mouth that it sounded fairly like a moan.

Raphael tried to hide his smile as he lowered himself into a crouch on the floor and once again ran his tongue over the muscles in Leo's legs. Leo's scent was even stronger than it had been before and although Raph had been intent on teasing Leo, he could feel his resolve crumbling as he dropped down and ran a hand over his own waiting length. He moved his hands back to Leo's legs and massaged over the muscles he found as he heard Leo relent and moan his name once again.

Raph rewarded him by lifting himself back up onto his knees and running his tongue up Leo's length. He blew a breath over the wet skin as he pushed two fingers into Leo's entrance and watched Leo's hips jerk towards him as Leo moaned again.

Leo raised himself on his elbows again as he felt Raphael remove his fingers and watched as Raphael's tongue lightly moved over his erect shaft. It felt nice, but wasn't nearly enough to push Leo over the edge as he desperately wanted.

He was beginning to regret challenging Raphael.

Raph raised his eyes to Leo's flushed, panting face and could see Leo's internal debate about doing what Raph wanted and being rewarded or continuing down this slow and frustrating path they were taking. He crawled his way up Leo's body and shoved him further up the bed in the process before he moved his mouth to Leo's neck.

"What do you want, Leo?"

Leo fell back off his elbows again as he let Raphael position him and churred when Raphael began licking his neck. He shifted his hips up towards Raph but Raph was holding himself too high for Leo to easily reach.

Leo's resolve was completely gone. "You, Raphael," he moaned in response.

"What do you want me to do?" Raph asked, moving his tongue up to Leo's jaw as the fingers from one of his hands traced leisurely over Leo's arms. He'd never pushed Leo this far before and now he wanted to see what else he could get out of him.

Leo grabbed Raph's face and pulled it forward so he could kiss Raphael and move his tongue into the emerald turtle's mouth. "I want you to fuck me, Raphael," Leo growled into Raph's mouth. "Right. Now."

"Shit, Leo," Raph whispered back as he immediately lowered himself to Leo's body and pushed his way into Leo's entrance. He watched as Leo's eyes went from fierce to half-lidded in pleasure before Raph even reached down to begin stroking Leo as well.

Leo grabbed hold of Raphael's biceps and felt his body heat up once again. He was thankful they were the only ones in the hotel as he loudly and shamelessly moaned out Raphael's name repeatedly.

"Yes, Leo," Raph said, thrilled to hear his name flying repeatedly out of Leo's mouth as his own body responded with loud churrs. He watched Leo go rigid in his release and just knowing that he was responsible for Leo's pleasure pushed him into his own release at almost the same moment.

Instead of collapsing his full weight on top of Leo, he pulled Leo to the side with him and immediately rumbled over to him, "I don't think I had to work very hard to get ya moanin my name, Fearless."

"I still think I'm the - the winner in this deal," Leo panted.

"Ya would," Raph chuckled, nuzzling his face into Leo's neck. He groaned in frustration as the phone began ringing in the main room. He didn't feel like getting up but when he glanced at Leo, Leo only responded with a lazy smile. So he rolled off the bed and made it to the phone before its third ring.

"Raph, good, you're back," Donnie said in a rush. "Is Akito there?"


	14. Chapter 14

Leo paused his pacing on the sidewalk outside the movie theater and closed his eyes. He pictured Akito's face and tried to calm his breathing.

The police were still questioning his brothers about the last time they'd seen Akito. They'd been in the middle of a movie when Akito had said he had to go to the bathroom. And considering Akito was fourteen years old, Leo couldn't blame them for allowing him to go by himself.

But now Akito was missing. And his family was left wondering if he'd gone off by himself willingly or if he'd been taken against his will. Leo shuddered to think that _turtle luck_ might extend to their fox children.

Leo glanced over to Raphael again. Raph was sitting on the curb with a crying Machi in his lap. Machi had already begun to feel homesick and now Akito's disappearance had her even more upset. Leo felt guilt over not being more helpful with poor Machi, but he couldn't sit still right now and he could see that she was in good hands. Plus, Leo knew Machi was giving Raphael something to do other than rage at the police, which is what he'd done when the officers had first arrived and he thought they hadn't been moving fast enough. One of Leo's hands on Raph's shoulder had calmed him and he'd apologized to the officers who had quickly forgiven him while assuring the family that they would do all they could to find the missing teen. Leo was grateful for their understanding, especially since they were visitors here.

"You're the boy's father?" an officer asked, coming up to Leo right before he began pacing again.

"Yes," Leo replied quickly.

"Well, the theater manager just let us look over the security tapes. We spotted your son leave screen 8, bypass the restrooms and head directly out of the theater. So, from what we can see so far, he left the theater willingly. I know you're not from here, but can you think of anywhere he might've gone? Or anyone here he would've gone to see?"

"My niece, Violet."

Raphael's head whipped around as he heard Usagi's voice. He tried not to actually growl since Machi was currently doing her best to wrap herself around his neck, but he glared when he found the rabbit standing behind Leo.

Usagi didn't meet Leonardo's eyes as he stepped up next to him to speak to the police officer. "She is also missing. She and Akito were -," he paused here and glanced in Leonardo's direction.

"Very close," Leo finished for him. Leo turned to Raphael and saw Raph stand with Machi in his arms and head their way.

Usagi took a step away from Leonardo as Raphael approached them but continued. "I have been looking for her. I am slightly relieved to think that she might be somewhere with Akito." His eyes glanced at Raphael and he was grateful Raphael's hands were busy carrying Machi.

"We're so sorry, guys," Donnie said as he and Sadie came to stand by their sides.

"This is all our fault," Sadie said.

"No," Leo said. He placed his hand on Raph's arm and squeezed. He wasn't happy about seeing Usagi here either but they already had new information thanks to Usagi showing up. His outlook brightened slightly at the thought that Akito and Violet might have just decided to secretly meet up with each other. He half listened to the officer question Usagi about where he had already searched as he turned back to Donnie and Sadie. "It's not your fault. It looks like Akito probably planned to leave during the movie. We just need to find him."

Raph listened to Leo's calm voice and knew his mate had switched over to leader mode. In a way it was reassuring, because Raphael needed leader Leo to just take control and fix this and bring Akito back. But it was also slightly infuriating because leader turtle was typically unemotional and Raphael was feeling overly emotional, especially since the rabbit just hopped on the scene.

"How about if I head back to the hotel with April and the kids?" Woody said, feeling desperate to do something helpful.

"Someone should be there in case Akito returns to the hotel," Donnie said, mentally kicking himself for not coming up with some sort of T-phone that would work in this dimension as well. They were going to be stuck calling in constantly for updates.

"I'll go with them," Sadie said. "I'll sit by the phone and you can check in often." She shrugged at Donnie since it was the best she could currently offer and she could see his frustration over their lack of technology here.

Mikey rejoined the group as well and wrapped his arms around Leo's and Raph's shoulders. "That officer gave me some ideas for places teens go around here," Mikey said in a voice much quieter than his normal voice. "I don't know how helpful it will be since Akito wouldn't know any of those places. But we could start there." He released their shoulders to say a quick goodbye to Woody as he came over and took Machi from Raphael and then left with Sadie, April and Shadow.

The officers dispersed from the scene and without Machi in his arms, Raph's hands balled into fists as he watched Usagi step awkwardly towards their group.

Donnie turned to Usagi and began to ask him where Violet might go but Raphael quickly interrupted him.

"No," Raph said. "He's not comin with us."

Donnie, and even Mikey, frowned a little as they looked back and forth between Raphael who was glaring daggers at Usagi and the samurai, who was keeping his eyes down towards the ground.

Leo turned his shell to all of them as he heard his brothers begin to argue about Usagi's usefulness in this search. He scrubbed a hand down his face and thought of Akito. He'd never pictured Akito doing anything like this, especially in a strange dimension. His mind went back to the last time Akito had been here. He'd been only 6 years old when Leo had been turtlenapped by Akito's uncle. He pictured his level-headed boy as he had appeared in that cave with the key that freed Leo. And pictured him again, running through a fiery battle as he was determined to save his baby sister. And Leo sort of wished he'd been there the time Akito had jumped a portal into Dimension X to try to help save Leo yet again.

Raph liked to think that Akito was a lot like Leo with his calm mannerisms and dedication to training. But Leo could see a lot of Raph's attributes in their boy as well. Akito didn't seem to spend a whole lot of time thinking about his decisions in critical situations. He just reacted quickly. And most of those decisions had been selfless and in service of someone else. And thankfully, up to this point, Akito had always come out unharmed. Leo's eyes squeezed shut as he hoped that Akito was going to come out of this disappearance unharmed as well.

Leo turned back around and put his hand up to silence the other three turtles who were still arguing about the need for Usagi's presence. They quieted immediately and Leo turned to Usagi.

"What did you tell Violet? Why would she run off?"

Usagi paused for a moment and then lifted his eyes to Leo's face where he was met with Leo's infamous fierce blue gaze. "I told her that their ninjitsu training was completed."

"Why?" Mikey asked, noting that Leo didn't look all that surprised.

Leo turned to Raphael who nodded at him. "Of course he woulda snuck off to see her," Raph muttered.

Leo nodded as well. Violet, and Akito when she told him, would've both been upset. Akito would've wanted to see her and comfort her. "They're probably not off just having fun somewhere," Leo said, thinking that the list of places Mikey had from the police were probably places teens would head to have fun. "They're upset."

Usagi took a step towards Leo and began to say, "Leonardo-," but he stopped and shut his mouth when Leo swiftly moved away from him to stand on the other side of Raphael, placing Raph between himself and Usagi.

Mikey and Donnie exchanged another glance. It was unlike anything they'd ever seen Leo do before and it spoke volumes about how upset Leo was. Between that, Raphael's continued glare at the rabbit and Usagi's statement that Leo would no longer be training the bunnies, they were definitely confused, but they both instinctually moved closer to Leo.

Leo felt Mikey and Donnie step protectively closer to him. It was years of working as a team kicking in that led to his brothers' offer of wordless support. Leo thought of the team he'd been building with his young students.

"We need to go to your sister's house," Leo finally said. "I want to talk to the other bunnies."

* * *

"You still think this is the right direction?" Violet asked as she twitched her nose at the smelly surroundings.

Akito didn't answer. His family had to have noticed his absence by now and the guilt he was feeling was becoming stronger. His chest was actually feeling tight. He squeezed Violet's fingers and reassured himself that at least they were together. As soon as they reached their destination, he'd have a chance to sit and think about what to do next.

His ears twitched and he noticed Violet's long white ears turning as well. Their eyes met to exchange a worried glance before they both began to slowly turn to look behind them. Two darts flew into their sides before they even had a chance to turn all the way around.

"Remind me to convince my dad that I should be allowed to carry my weapons when -," Akito murmured before they both slumped to the ground.

* * *

Sam smiled across the table at Miwa. "So do you normally eat dinner this early?" he asked her as he eyed the senior citizens who were finishing their presumably 4:30 pm dinner specials.

"Well, I have to go to work after this," Miwa said.

"Where do you work?"

She had opened herself up to that question by mentioning it, but he watched her freeze for a moment when he asked.

"It's a family business," Miwa finally said. She had planned on spending the dinner learning about him. But she knew he was equally curious about her. She didn't want to lie to him, but she wondered if the middle of this restaurant was the place to truly tell him about herself.

"Well, you did mention that you all spend a great deal of time together," Sam said. She looked uncomfortable talking about herself. So he was giving her an out with his comment. She could either switch subjects or keep talking about herself. He offered her the bread basket from the center of the table and smiled when she took a roll. He took one himself and busied himself with buttering it while he waited for her to decide what to do.

Miwa sighed. "I don't really date," she said. "At all. And I wasn't really kidding when I said I didn't want to scare you off, which is a real possibility if I keep talking about myself. Plus, even being a non-dater, I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to share every detail on the first date."

Sam couldn't help but grin at her as she talked. Her cheeks were turning pink and she was beginning to fidget, which he realized he'd never seen her do. He'd noticed in the past that her movements were always smooth and fluid. And silent.

"Well," he said, resting his chin on his hand as he tried to look thoughtful, "there was that time you tried to run me over in the lab. That was a lot of physical contact for a casual first meeting."

Miwa huffed out a laugh

"And then there was our breakfast date this morning," Sam said. "So, by my count, and I have a PhD so you can trust me on this, by my count we're on our third date already."

"It's hard to argue with a PhD," Miwa said, thoughtfully. "Between Donatello and Sadie, I've learned that the hard way."

Their waitress arrived with their dinners and Sam switched topics and told her a little about his past as they ate. He focused on funny graduate school stories and his first job at another small tech firm.

"But I was thrilled to get this job with Hamato Engineering," he said to her between bites. "Your brother has some really cool high tech inventions. They're really amazing. Working in his lab is a little like playing in a toy store for me."

She watched him as he spoke and admired the way his eyes lit up over his work. She'd have to remind herself later to thank Donatello for hiring him.

"Speaking of work, I do have a present for you," he said, pulling a box out of his coat pocket. He handed it to her across the table and smiled as she let her fingers brush across his as she took it.

Miwa opened the box and looked at the collection of small vials inside, each containing a green liquid.

"That's it?" she asked. "Such a small dose?"

"Yup. We can get away with such a small dose because I worked out an algorithm that made it very concentrat-," he stopped when she shot him a look. "That's it," he finished, cutting the science explanation out of his answer with a knowing smile on his face. "It just needs to be swallowed."

"Thank you, Sam," she said, sincerely as she tucked the box into her bag.

"Are you going to tell me why you need it now that it's finished?"

"No," Miwa said, doing her best to urge him with her eyes not to be disappointed. "Not yet, anyway."

"OK," Sam said, taking the last bite of his meal.

Miwa watched him and was pleased to see that it was really that easy with him. He seemed to accept a lot of what she said without pushing her further than she was ready to go with her explanations.

"Let me walk you home," Sam said, rising from the table at the end of their meal.

"It's really not that far," she said, although why she was feeling the need to protest, she wasn't sure. She certainly wasn't ready to say goodbye to him yet.

"Just let me walk you home," Sam said, grinning over at her again as he lifted a hand and waited until she placed her hand in his before he began walking.

They were walking down the sidewalk before his voice interrupted the thoughts she was having about how nice his hand felt wrapped around hers. She was tall and slender, but since she spent most of her time covered in sweat as she trained with her brothers or ran patrols around the city, she didn't often feel all that feminine. But tonight, as she walked side by side with Sam in the dress she'd borrowed from Sadie's closet, she focused on how small her hand felt within Sam's hand.

"What are your brothers going to think about their sister dating?" Sam asked as he adjusted their hands so that his fingers looped through hers. "Wait, they weren't all like wrestling champs in high school were they?"

"Well," Miwa said, squeezing his hand in return. "I'm afraid to have to tell you, they certainly aren't lightweights." She tugged on his hand to stop him when they reached her apartment building.

"Wow, that really wasn't that far," Sam said, looking slightly disappointed as he glanced up at her building. He glanced back down at her. The wind was blowing her hair around and he instinctually lifted a hand to move some wayward strands off her forehead and wrap it around her ear. He smiled as he watched her try to suppress a shiver. His eyes moved to her mouth.

"I don't think it would be unheard of for you to kiss me," Miwa said, watching his eyes as they moved over her lips, "since this is already our third date."

He smiled at her again. "How do you know the rules? I thought you were an inexperienced dater," he teased.

"It's not dating experience," she said, smirking back at his grin. "Being able to read people is a bit of a family trait."

"So you have a super pow-," Sam started to say, but his tease was cut short as Miwa leaned forward and kissed him herself. His brain shut off. It was a goal he aimed for, especially as he tried to go to sleep at night. But his brain always seemed to be running and he almost sighed in relief as he felt himself relax as her lips moved against his. Her honey smell filled his nose and he couldn't stop himself from moving his free hand to the side of her neck to gently pull her even closer to him.

Miwa shivered again as she felt his hand on the side of her neck. She moved her own free hand up to squeeze his shoulder as she felt her stomach squirm. She felt her cheeks warm and pulled back after a few moments just so she could look at his face again. She smiled to herself as she looked at his red cheeks, the color rising all the way up to his red hairline. She leaned forward and kissed him once more quickly before she said goodnight and left him grinning on the sidewalk.

* * *

Leo followed Usagi into his sister's house with Raphael and their brothers close behind him. His bunny students perked up when he entered the room and jumped forward to greet him. Usagi noticed with a small amount of guilt how happy they all were to see their sensei since he had told them this morning that they would no longer be training with Leonardo.

Usagi's sister quickly welcomed the turtle brothers in her home as well. So far, she hadn't been able to get Usagi to tell her the real reason he was canceling her kids' ninjitsu training. But she had heard impressive stories about Master Leonardo's brothers and immediately began asking them what she could get them to eat or drink. Leo, Raph, and Donnie politely declined her offer while they watched Michelangelo loop an arm around her shoulders and herd her into the kitchen where Raph was pretty sure Mikey would end up waiting on her. It would keep her busy and Raph was sure she had to be worried about her missing daughter as well.

Leo greeted his students happily and then zeroed in on the one bunny not meeting his eyes. He ducked his head down to force her to look at him.

"Where'd they go?" he asked Violet's guilty-looking sister.


	15. Chapter 15

Akito woke up first. If his Uncle Donnie was there, he'd probably think this was a good time to explain that because Violet was smaller than him, she was still unconscious because their equal dose of tranquilizer would act much stronger on her slight frame compared to his. Or something like that. Akito shook his head to try to get rid of some of the fuzziness. He almost fell over as he sat up, but he managed to stay upright.

His eyes ran over Violet who lay on her side on the ground next to him. He reached over and rested his hand on her shoulder and felt it move rhythmically up and down and assured himself that she was breathing.

He looked around and scowled as he realized they were in a large cage. There was cedar on the ground, a large exercise wheel standing off to one side and a water bottle propped upside down hanging in the corner. His mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton and he debated between getting a drink to relieve the sensation and not getting a drink to avoid the humiliation that would come with being treated like a pet hamster.

He wobbled to his feet and began to walk around the perimeter of the cage. Three walls were solid and the fourth was a glass wall. He tried to look through the glass but the outside room was completely dark and the only thing he could make out was the reflection of Violet waking up behind him. He went back to her side and helped her sit up.

"I'm so sorry, Vi," he said.

"Sorry for what?" she asked, rubbing the palms of her hands against her eyes.

"We never should've come back to my dimension," Akito said, sitting down beside her. "My parents are gonna kill me. And that's _if_ we can get out of here."

Violet scooted a little closer to Akito and wrapped her arms around his neck before he got himself worked up even further. She looked around the cage they were in and frowned.

"Is that our only option for water?"

He huffed out a laugh and nodded.

* * *

"I cannot believe you invited him to come with us," Raph growled over to Leo. They were standing in the hotel lobby, waiting for Donnie and Mikey to return with Sadie, Woody, Machi, April and Shadow so they could jump dimensions and go back home since that's where Violet's sister had said the two teens had gone. Usagi stood outside on the sidewalk waiting for them.

"Violet is his niece," Leo said. He didn't want Raphael angry with him. He didn't want to deal with Usagi. He just wanted to find Akito.

"We care about Violet. We'll be searchin for her like we'll be searchin for Akito," Raph said, turning his shell to Leo. He didn't understand what was taking everyone else so long to get their asses back down here. He wanted to get home so he could start searching for their son already.

"Violet's mother asked me to let Usagi work with us to find her daughter," Leo said, sighing. "She's a worried mother like we're worried fathers and I don't want to deal with anything other than that right now."

"So yer sayin you don't give a shit that yer mate doesn't want him to come with us?"

Leo tried to remind himself that Raphael was upset because Akito was missing as he listened to Raph snarl at him. He didn't have the luxury of raging and being angry right now the way Raphael did. Right now, Leo had to focus on getting the entire clan back home safely, since he no longer felt comfortable leaving anyone behind. Then he had to decide where to start searching for their son, who never ventured out of their apartment unsupervised, even into the sewers.

But, apparently, he was also going to have to try and calm down his angry mate.

"Raphie," Leo said, doing his best to soften the leader voice that had been coming out of his mouth since he found out Akito was gone.

"Don't Raphie me," Raphael growled, spinning back around to glare at Leo. His eyes darted to the hotel exit where he could see the samurai standing on the sidewalk outside. "You wouldn't like this either if the tables were turned," he said, poking Leo in the plastron.

Leo pushed Raph's finger away and glared back at him. "This has nothing to do with Usagi and everything to do with finding our son," he growled back. "And even if Usagi wasn't coming with us directly, he'd still end up in our dimension to perform his own search. Our _son_ ran away with his _niece_. We're stuck with him."

"You guys OK?" April asked as she slowly approached them with Shadow and Machi from the elevator. She glanced back and forth between the two turtles, shocked to find them glaring and snarling at each other. She hadn't seen anything like it from them in years.

Raphael turned away from Leo first and held his arms out so he could pick Machi up and head to stand by the exit. Leo turned his shell to Raph and worked on controlling his breathing as he saw the elevators open again to reveal the rest of their family.

"Let's move," he said. His voice was calm and didn't betray the turmoil he was feeling on the inside. He led them out to the street and let Usagi lead the way to transport them home.

They landed in darkness on their own rooftop and everyone quickly followed Leo downstairs so they could ask Master Splinter if he'd seen Akito or Violet. He hadn't.

After that, they quickly spread out to check all the apartments and the labs for signs of the two teens. Leo noted that Raph chose to stay with Machi in Master Splinter's apartment, and he couldn't decide if he was glad for the space or upset that they weren't going to have a private moment to talk.

They reconvened in Master Splinter's apartment and Leo said a quick goodbye to their daughter before he began to lead the group back to the rooftop. He halted suddenly, though, in the fourth floor hallway and turned when he realized that, although Sadie had stayed behind with Master Splinter and the kids, April was still with them.

"You're not coming, April," he said.

"Yes I am," April said defiantly. "I can still run across rooftops."

"The whole reason we left was to keep you and Shadow away from Stockman. You're just making it that much easier for him to find you."

"Shadow will be safe here with Master Splinter and I know my way around the rooftops and sewers just as well as you guys do." April said, standing up a little taller. "Akito is my nephew and I'm going to help look for him!"

"We're wastin time. I'm gonna start searchin," Raphael said, moving around the arguing pair and heading towards the stairs.

"Raph, wait," Leo said.

Raph stopped long enough to shoot Leo a dark look before saying, "I have my T-phone if you need me." He watched as the leader mask slipped for a moment and revealed a look of hurt from Leo. He kept the glare on his face but briefly reconsidered staying with the group before he turned and headed up the stairs to the rooftop. He had no patience for arguing with April or waiting around while they explained what was going on to Miwa and the Foot, which is where he knew Leo would head first to pick up additional search party helpers. And he definitely didn't have the patience to keep looking at the rabbit without punching him in the face.

Leo stared in shock at the spot where Raphael had just been standing. He heard Usagi sigh loudly behind him, as if he was trying to tell Leo _I told you so_ and Leo suddenly felt like cursing.

Donnie exchanged confused glances with Mikey and Woody for what he was sure was the umpteenth time that day. He was tired of not knowing what was going on.

"April, you're staying," Leo said with a level of finality in his voice that made April take a step back before he moved towards the exit as well. Raphael was nowhere to be seen as they began sprinting across rooftops in the darkness.

They entered the Foot headquarters silently from the roof and Miwa looked up in surprise when they appeared in front of her in the Foot dojo.

"You're back," she said, scanning over their worried faces.

"Akito and Violet ran away and came back here. I don't suppose you've seen them?" Leo asked.

Miwa's eyes widened. She turned and immediately and called her elite soldiers to attention and gave them orders to begin searching, while Leo watched gratefully for her unquestioned assistance.

"We'll separate into groups with your ninja," Leo said. "We still need to keep our eyes open for Stockman and Fishface." He began to move away as well when Miwa grabbed his arm.

"I have something else I have to tell you," Miwa said in a low voice.

* * *

Raphael crouched on a rooftop and stared down at the T-phone in his hand. He was torn between continuing his search for Akito and calling Leo to apologize. So far, he wasn't doing either and he realized he was just wasting time by sitting here unable to make a decision. Finally, he flipped his phone open and typed in a message.

_Sorry, babe_

He hit the send button and waited.

Finally, the phone buzzed in his hand and he swiped it open again.

_Where are you?_

He frowned thoughtfully at the phone. He'd been hoping for a somewhat playful response back. But Leo was probably still rightfully angry with him. Raph figured he should be happy that Leo hadn't ignored the message. He began to type a response when movement caught his eye. His eyes narrowed when he saw that it was April running across the rooftops a few blocks away from him. He put his T-phone back on his belt without finishing his reply text and took off to follow her.

* * *

"Are you going to tell the rest of us what happened between you and Usagi?" Donnie asked as they moved with a group of Foot ninjas through the sewer tunnels closest to the Hamato Engineering building.

"Not right now I'm not," Leo responded. He tried to push his senses out even further, doing his best to search for any sign of his missing son.

He'd sent Mikey and Woody off with one group and Usagi and Miwa with another. He pulled his phone again to check for any updates from anyone and frowned when there was still nothing. Not even a response text from Raphael. And since Raph had been the one who had reached out to him first, the fact that it had been over an hour and he hadn't responded to Leo's text with his location gave Leo a bad feeling.

He pushed the speed dial for Raph's phone and stopped in his tracks when it went straight to voicemail.

"Donnie," Leo said, pushing his phone towards the genius, "track Raph's phone for me."

Donnie stopped moving as well and pulled his own phone out instead. Leo watched him push a few buttons, as he lightly bit his tongue between his teeth, before frowning. "There's no active signal for his phone. Let me pinpoint where the signal was last located." After a few moments, Donnie turned his phone screen towards Leo with another worried look. "Looks like it was last active near Shredder's old headquarters."

Leo turned on his heel to head back to the closest manhole cover.

"Wait, do you want me to come with you?"

"No," Leo said over his shoulder. "I need you to keep searching for the kids. I'll call if I need help."


	16. Chapter 16

Leo woke up with a burning pain in his leg. He briefly remembered being overwhelmed by mousers as soon as he'd entered the lower levels of Shredder's old headquarters. He thought he'd be OK until one of the mousers had opened his mouth and instead of setting off an alarm as Leo had expected, it had fired a laser shot, hitting Leo in the leg and taking him down immediately. He sat up slowly and looked down at the large bleeding gash he had as a result.

"Fearless."

He turned and found Raphael staring at him from the other side of a glass barrier, sitting in a corner that separated their two cages.

"Raph," Leo breathed out in response, immediately relieved to see him. Raphael looked stressed, which was no shock considering they appeared to be contained in the glass cages of Stockman's former and apparently current lab. Stockman certainly wasn't getting any points for originality in his choice of hideout.

"I've been sittin here watchin yer leg bleed for almost an hour. Put some pressure on it," Raph rumbled over to him.

Leo could hear the fear in Raph's voice and turned his attention back to his leg. There was an impressive bloody puddle under his calf muscle. He pulled his T-phone from his belt first though and then grumbled something when he saw that there was currently no signal.

"Yer leg," Raph growled.

Leo pulled some gauze next and began wrapping it tightly around his calf.

Raph kept his green eyes pinned on Leo as he sat completely helpless just twenty feet away. His muscles strained as he desperately wanted through the glass in order to get his hands on his mate.

"Akito and Violet are here," Raph said as Leo finished with his leg. He could see blood staining the bandaging red already, but it was the best they were going to be able to do in their current circumstances.

Leo's head whipped up to his again. "Where?"

"Cage on the other side of me," Raph said, standing.

Leo struggled to his feet and limped over to the glass wall. He was grateful the room was a circle, which allowed them to see each other from different spots in their cages. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when he saw Akito standing in his own cage, trying to see him as well.

"Dad," Akito said, pressing his hand against the glass wall of his and Violet's cage.

"Are you OK?" Leo asked, scanning over his son. He cursed the fur covering Akito's body since it would easily hide any injuries.

"I'm fine, dad," Akito said, as Violet came into view next to him. "I'm just so sorry."

"We're _both_ so sorry," Violet said.

Leo could see the fear and regret in the two teens' eyes. "Everything is going to be fine," he said to them. This wasn't the best case scenario for them to find the teens, but seeing Akito in front of him relieved most of his stress.

Leo looked over to Raphael. Seeing Raphael made him feel better as well, even if he was still angry with him. For his part, Raph at least looked fairly contrite as Leo watched him fiddle with his wrist wrap instead of looking back at Leo.

"Well, since you found the kids first I guess your method of just running off to search worked out," Leo said to him, sternly.

Raph shook his head. "I actually followed April here," he said as he raised his eyes to meet Leo's.

"He's got April?" Leo exclaimed loudly as he felt his stress level rise again. "Where?"

"I don't know. We got separated by those damn mousers. But she said she came here because Casey wasn't answering his T-phone and this was the last place his signal was picked up."

"Which is why I'm here, since this is the last place your T-phone signal was picked up," Leo said, sending Raph a pointed glare.

Raph chewed on his lower lip and looked guiltily at Leo. "I haven't seen Casey, but Stockman said he's got some phone scrambler set up so once we get within fifty feet of the building our T-phones become useless."

"Donnie knows I was coming here to look for you. So hopefully the team eventually realizes we're all missing and heads here with the same thought." He looked back over to Akito and Violet and pushed on the glass in front of himself to test it.

Raph continued to stare at Leo. He was tired of the formal work discussion they appeared to be having. "Come here," he said quietly. He was still standing in the corner that separated their cages. It was the closest he could possibly get to Leo. He watched Leo frown at him and then slowly limp over to their shared corner. "I'm sorry, Leo."

Leo could tell that he meant it, but he continued to frown. "Raph, I know you were upset about Usagi and worried about Akito," he answered back in a low tone so the teens couldn't hear them. "But, so was I. And I just wish that -," Leo paused, thinking about his next words.

"What?" Raph asked, his eyes scanning over Leo's stressed face. He placed his fist against the glass between them as he felt an overwhelming urge to reach out and grab Leo.

Leo raised his eyes to Raph's. He loved those green eyes. And he loved Raphael, but -. "I wish that we had worked together in this crisis instead of snapping at each other. When I'm in charge of everything and everyone else, I need your support. I count on you."

Raphael nodded, letting Leo's words sink in. Leo was right. Raphael had left his mate alone to deal with everything this time. "I know, Leo. I know. And ya know that we do normally. I'm sorry I let you down this time." Raph watched Leo's face and the hesitation he saw there hurt more than anything else Leo could've said.

"Do you know what this is, turtles?" Stockman asked, interrupting them as he quickly walked into the center of the room. He held up a large syringe with an even larger needle attached to it.

Leo turned towards him. "Where's April?"

"She's in a holding cell fit for humans, not mutants," Stockman said. "Her job is finished, since she provided me with the last ingredient of my retromutagen." Stockman proudly held up his large syringe again. "But, before I use it on you turtles, I think I'd like to test it out."

Stockman pulled a remote and hit a few buttons. Mousers arrived as he opened Akito and Violet's cage. The mousers moved between the two teens, herding Violet to the back of the cage and Akito out of it.

Raph sprinted away from his and Leo's shared corner and towards the side of his cage closest to Akito. He pulled his sais and slammed the hilt against the glass. It chipped away a small piece but didn't cause any real damage. "Leave him alone!" he yelled at Stockman through the ridiculously thick glass.

Akito jumped up and easily landed on the back of one of the mousers. He hopped from one to another as the mousers began climbing on top of each other to try to reach him.

"No!" Leo yelled, pounding on the glass as well as he watched a mouser open its mouth and prepare to fire at their son.

Akito froze when he heard his dad yell and the mouser held its fire, but kept its open mouth aimed at him.

"Over here, fox," Stockman said, indicating the table he stood next to.

Akito looked over to his fathers and could see both of them scrambling for an idea.

They didn't want Akito anywhere near that table. But Leo also didn't want Akito to experience a laser wound since he was currently doing his best not to rip off his lower leg to ease the pain he was experiencing.

Akito walked over to the table and Stockman quickly strapped him to it before re-closing Violet in her cage.

Stockman picked up his syringe and walked towards Akito, who was doing his best to appear brave but couldn't stop himself from struggling as the needle came closer.

"It won't work, Stockman. He's not a mutant!" Leo yelled. "Get away from him!"

* * *

"Look what the cat dragged in," Casey announced to the group who had reconvened in the Foot headquarters. He tugged on Fishface's arm and dragged him towards the large group. He had tried to call Miwa on his way, but his T-phone wasn't working.

"That's funny cause you're a fish," Mikey joked while also pulling his nunchucks out at the same time to spin them as a warning towards Fishface.

"Hey, when did you guys get back?" Casey asked, surprised to see Mikey, Woody and Donnie standing with Miwa and that rabbit friend of Leo's.

"Why did you bring him here?" Miwa asked, staring hard at Fishface.

"I captured him," Casey said.

"I came willingly," Xever said at the same time. He glared at the hockey stick man. "I didn't agree with Stockman trying to grab the little girl, so I left him. And I'm willing to show you where his lab is located."

"How do we know this isn't a trap?" Woody asked, stepping up from behind Mikey. He squeezed one of Mikey's arms. "What if they have retromutagen?"

"If Stockman had created a working retromutagen I would no longer be a fish mutant," Xever said, plainly.

Donnie's phone rang and he answered Sadie's call as he swatted away Casey who was trying to tell him that his T-phone was malfunctioning.

"April isn't in the building," Sadie said immediately. "So I tried to track her phone but it turns out that her signal, along with Casey's Leo's and Raph's are all off the grid. But I can tell you the last place they all were."

Donnie hung up and turned to Fishface. "Is Stockman hiding in Shredder's old headquarters?"

Xever looked surprised for a moment but then nodded.

"Guess who's already there?" Donnie said to the rest of the group.


	17. Chapter 17

"You want me to believe that this walking, talking fox is not a mutant?" Stockman asked incredulously as he glanced between the fox and the turtle leader.

"He's not," Leo said, trying to sound calm.

Stockman shook his head at Leo and turned his needle back towards Akito.

"Get away from him!" Leo growled. He heard Raphael pound on the glass in the cage next to him. He hit the glass in front of him as well. He couldn't stand to watch their bound son struggle on that table. "Stockman!" he yelled. "Wait! Try it on me!"

"Leo!" Raph said, his eyes widening as he watched a fiercely determined look appear on Leo's face.

Stockman turned back to them and eyed Leonardo.

"Me!" Leo said, hitting the glass in front of him again. "You don't want to try it on a child. You want to try it on the leader of the turtles. Me."

"Leo, stop it!" Raph growled at him, pounding his fists into the glass wall again, although now for an entirely new reason.

"I won't resist." Leo unsheathed his katana and threw them onto the floor behind him. "Just let him go," Leo said, ignoring Raphael.

"You let me strap you to this table, turtle," Stockman said. "And I wont hurt the fox."

Leo didn't hesitate. He nodded his agreement.

Stockman opened the glass wall of Leo's cage and Leo ignored the mousers that surrounded him as he limped over to the second lab table.

"No," Akito whispered urgently over to him from his own table as he watched Stockman strap his dad to the other table. "If it won't work, why not let him just waste some on me?"

"Because I don't know what's in there and I don't want him injecting you with anything," Leo replied.

"Leonardo!" Raph yelled. His eyes were widened with terror. Pounding on the glass wasn't working. He grabbed hold of the large metal exercise wheel in his own cage and flung it towards the glass wall.

Leo looked up when he heard the glass crack. It was a small fracture, but it was actual damage and Leo almost smiled at his emerald turtle's strong arms as he lifted the wheel and flung it at the glass again.

"Let the child go, Stockman."

"Certainly," Stockman said. "As soon as I turn him back into a regular fox. Or was he a boy before?"

Leo struggled against his binds as he heard another crack from the glass on Raphael's cage. "No!" he yelled. "You said you wouldn't hurt him!"

"This won't hurt too much. And he should be thanking me for helping him. No one wants to live as a mutant."

"He's not a mutant!"

Stockman ignored Leo and walked back towards Akito again. Akito moved his head away from the strange man and his needle and his eyes focused on Violet. Her eyes were wide and she stood frozen with a hand pressed against the glass of their cage. He watched her mouth his name as he felt the needle stick into his arm. He squeezed his eyes shut but didn't release a sound. He could hear his dad yelling obscenities and his pops heave his running wheel against his glass wall again before the needle left his arm.

Stockman stood back, his eyes gleaming in excitement, and waited. And then waited some more as the fox opened his eyes again and stared back at him. Stockman looked down at his syringe. "Why isn't it working?" he muttered to himself.

"Akito, are you alright?" Leo asked quickly.

Akito turned his head towards his dad and nodded. "I'm fine."

"Alright, turtle. Your turn," Stockman said, turning towards Leo. He flinched when he heard another crack from the red turtle's cage.

"Leo!" Raph yelled again, his chest tight as he watched Stockman move towards Leo with that large-ass needle. "Stockman stop!" Raph yelled again. His voice was becoming hoarse. "Not him! Not Leo! Try me!" He pounded the glass with his fist and growled when the cracks he'd made still weren't enough to shatter the glass wall.

"Your turn is next, red one," Stockman said, pleased to see the wall holding up against the strongest of the turtles. He glanced at the fox again and felt his frustration build that the retromutagen had had no effect on him. He took the last step towards the table as Leo stopped struggling against his binds. He plunged the needle into Leo's upper arm as Leo glared at him and he heard another crack with more cursing snarled from the red turtle behind him.

Stockman removed the needle and rocked back on his heels as he stared triumphantly at the ninja turtle clan leader. He was met by Leo's fierce blue gaze.

And nothing else.

"This is ridiculous!" Stockman said, throwing up his arms as he began pacing in front of the two tables. "I rechecked all the calculations! I got the redhead's DNA! Why isn't it working?!"

Raphael froze and stared at Leo. His eyes ran up and down Leo's body, looking for any signs that his Leonardo was about to turn into a regular turtle. When his eyes rose back up to Leo's face he found Leo staring back at him. Raph widened his eyes and raised his eye ridges to silently ask if Leo was alright. He narrowed his eyes at Leo when he all he got in response was a smirk. Raph released the breath he'd been holding when he realized that Leo was fine. And if Raph didn't know better, he'd say that Leo had known beforehand that Stockman's retromutagen would fail.

"There's only one thing to do," Stockman said, turning to a computer panel that controlled his mutagen supply. "I don't know what you two have done but this retromutagen is perfect and I'll prove it." He was muttering more to himself now and didn't notice the strange looks he was receiving from the others. He punched a few keys and a dose of mutagen was released.

Leo stared in disbelief as Stockman plunged what appeared to be straight mutagen into his arm. He shrieked as his body twisted and changed shape. They all stared as Stockman transformed back into a mutant fly. Probably didn't go as he had planned, though, Leo thought to himself, since instead of turning into the human-sized fly he'd been before, he turned into a fly-sized mutant.

""BOOYAKASHAAAAA!"

Raph watched as Mikey flipped into the center of the room followed quickly by Donnie, Woody, Miwa, Casey, the rabbit, several Foot ninja and even Fishface.

Woody and Miwa rushed quickly to Akito and Leo to release them while Donnie began working on the control panel to get the doors to Violet's and Raph's cage doors open. Usagi moved to Violet's cage and began speaking with her through the glass.

"Where's Stockman?" Miwa asked.

"Where's April?" Casey asked since he didn't see his wife as he scanned the room.

As soon as they were free, Leo pulled Akito into a tight hug, ignoring the others for a moment as he happily held onto his son. Akito ignored them as well and returned his dad's hug. They stood like that for a few moments before Leo pulled away and stared into Akito's face before turning to the others.

"Casey, check the cells downstairs for April," Leo said and watched Casey quickly take off. "And the crazy scientist is currently that fly mutant on the table trying to inject himself with retromutagen to prove that it actually works."

They all whipped around when they heard a loud smack. They found Fishface with his hand against the lab table, Stockman-fly flattened below his palm.

Xever raised his eyes to the others. "I'm sorry, did you want to squish him?"

Donnie continued to stare at Xever as he hit one more button that opened the glass doors to release Raph and Violet. Akito raised his eyes to his dad's face one more time before he pulled away from him in order to rush over to Raphael as well.

"That's some crazy damage to that glass wall, bro," Mikey said to Raph as he watched Akito charge into Raph for a hug.

Raph lifted Akito from the ground in a big bear hug. His hand wrapped around Akito's upper arm and he could feel a small lump forming where the needle had broken the skin. "I'm gonna get Uncle Donnie to check you and yer dad out as soon as we get back," he murmured, almost more to himself than to his son. He searched out Donnie and found him with Leo, Miwa and Casey as they crowded around April to see if she had any injuries as well. He turned back to Akito and told him to go check on Violet before he headed to Leo.

Leo sensed him coming and left the group crowding April to meet him. Raph grabbed hold of him, something he'd wanted to do since Leo had first been dragged into his own cage by the mousers earlier that night, and pulled him tightly into his plastron. Not even ten minutes ago he had thought he was going to lose Leo. Really lose him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Leo's face nuzzle into his neck.

"I thought we agreed you weren't gonna voluntarily sacrifice yerself anymore?" Raph whispered.

"I wasn't sacrificing myself," Leo responded, his voice slightly muffled as he spoke into Raph's neck. "I was just keeping his attention away from _you_." He pulled far enough away from Raphael to pull a small vial out of his belt, which he handed to his favorite turtle.

"Drink this," Leo said as Raph took the vial and eyed the green liquid inside it before raising his eyes in question to Leo. "It's a permanent mutagen Donnie's new scientist created at Miwa's request. It makes us resistant to retromutagen."

"You already took yer dose?" Raph asked, as the realization that Stockman wasn't incompetent after all began to dawn on him.

"Earlier tonight when the _rest of us_ first met up with Miwa and the Foot."

"Yer ass is lucky this actually worked," Raphael said. "You still let Stockman inject ya with _actual_ retromutagen. I may just kill ya myself for scarin me like that."

"Drink up, babe," Leo said with another smirk on his face.

"Jerk."


	18. Chapter 18

Despite his protests, Raph lifted Leo onto his own shell and carried him outside to the waiting vehicles to take them all home. Donnie removed the soiled bandages on Leo's leg in the back of the party wagon and scowled. The wound would need more attention when they got home, but he managed to wrap it with clean gauze during the drive.

Once they were home, Leo insisted on waking Machi immediately so that she could see that Akito had returned safely. They watched the happy reunion between them in Master Splinter's apartment before Leo asked Miwa to take Machi home and put her to bed.

Next, Leo limped down to the dojo with Raph and Akito where Usagi and Violet were waiting. They let Akito and Violet say a quick goodbye to each other, in plain sight, on the other side of the dojo. Leo didn't say anything to Usagi and Raphael decided to ignore the rabbit's presence altogether. Usagi had paused before he left, debating whether or not he should try to speak with the turtles. But when he glanced at Leonardo, he could see how tired he looked. Plus, any discussion would further delay treatment to what must be a pretty gruesome leg injury if Leonardo was actually limping around. So instead, he bowed quickly and ushered Violet out of there.

Finally, Leo allowed Raph and Donnie to lead him into Don's lab for further medical attention, as long as Akito stayed with them. Which was fine, since no one was ready to let him out of their sights yet.

"Does it need stitches?" Raph asked, eyeing Leo's leg which was propped up on the lab table. It was a large gash but the skin around it looked raw and irritated. "He lost a lot of blood, Don. Think he needs a transfusion?"

"Normally a wound this deep would need stitches, but because it was a laser blast, it's acting more like a burn. There's no way I can put stitches in that irritated skin," Donnie said, leaning over the leg to examine it. "I'll have to put some cream on it. At least it looks like it finally clotted."

"You're both acting like I'm not sitting right here," Leo said.

"He doesn't look pale and his pulse is fine so he probably won't need a transfusion," Donnie said as if Leo hadn't spoken. "I'll get him a shot of antibiotics and pain medication."

"No pain medication yet," Leo said.

"Fearless, don't even act like that's not killin you," Raphael said, finally turning away from Leo's leg to look up at his face. "It's hurtin me just lookin at it."

"I have another errand tonight and pain meds are just going to knock me out."

"Errand?" Donnie asked, looking up at Leo's face as well. "You realize it's nearly two in the morning and you have a busted leg, right?"

"Yes," Leo said. "So can we hurry this up? My errand requires another favor from you, Don. And Raph, I need you to go ask Casey for a favor as well before he goes to sleep."

Raphael scowled at him but he wasn't about to argue with Leo again after the day they'd just had. He was pretty sure he was still in the doghouse with Leo as well.

Akito sat on a nearby stool and yawned as he listened to his dad's plan and then watched his pops head up the elevator to his Uncle Casey's apartment. He watched as Uncle Donnie treated his dad's leg and felt his guilt grow as he stared at the nasty injury.

"This would've happened anyway," Leo said, eyeing his son. He was an expert in self-assigned guilt and he could see it all over Akito's face. "We still had to deal with Stockman's plan to attack us. I didn't even know Stockman had you until after I'd already been captured as well. You're not allowed to feel guilty about this injury. If you want to feel guilty, it can be over the worry and stress we experienced when we found out you were missing."

Donnie smirked but kept his head down as he worked.

"I'm really sorry, dad."

"I know, buddy. We'll talk about it later, though," Leo said. They'd have to have a serious discussion with Akito, which was strange in itself because he couldn't remember ever needing to really punish their son in the past. But after everything they'd just been through that night, he wasn't in the mood to come up with either a good lecture or a good solution concerning Violet.

Akito sighed. He was slightly relieved but part of him wanted to get whatever was coming over with already.

The lab door opened and Raphael reappeared with a duffel bag plus Machi and Miwa. Machi rushed back to Akito's side and clutched his hand. Akito smiled at her and squeezed her smaller hand back in return.

"She couldn't sleep," Miwa said, coming over to examine Leo's wound. "That looks really nasty."

"Thanks," Leo said dryly as Raphael elbowed her aside so he could stand by Leo again. Miwa grinned at him and lifted herself up to sit on a lab table across from them.

Sadie entered the lab then as well and gave Akito a quick hug before she pulled out some supplies to help Donnie as he collected blood samples from both Leo and Akito.

"We're going to make sure there's nothing detrimental in that retromutagen Stockman gave you," Donnie said.

Raphael rested his hand on one of Leo's forearms and let his thumb rub back and forth over Leo's cool skin as he watched Sadie flip machines on as she walked around.

"We should have the results in a couple hours," Sadie said to them.

"It's really late," Leo said, enjoying the warmth that came from having even just one of Raph's hands on him. "It can probably wait until morning."

"If you think you can still run another errand tonight, then we can stay up a little longer to work on this," Donnie said.

"And there's no way either of us will be able to sleep until we know there's no long-term effects from that solution you've got running in your system," Sadie said.

"Plus, I want to see how the new permanent mutagen is doing," Donnie said, sending Miwa a look. He hadn't been around much the past few days but he was still a little shocked that Miwa had convinced their new first floor lab scientist to create the formula in the first place. "Dr. Chaplin really didn't ask you why you wanted it?" Donnie asked her again.

"No," Miwa said, "I just needed to do something to protect you guys from Stockman's retromutagen. So I asked him if he thought he could create it and he said yes and that was it." She tried to keep the smile from spreading across her face but failed.

"I'm sure I could've created it as well if we hadn't all been forced into the other dimension," Donnie said, shooting Leo a look.

"I'm sure you could've," Leo said, smiling back at his smart brother.

"So our new scientist is extremely smart," Sadie said, as she dropped a blood sample on a slide and fed it into a machine. "Anything else you'd like to share about him, Miwa?"

Miwa smiled as her face turned red. "I think it might be nice if you all met him."

"One date and you want us to meet him already?" Leo asked as Donnie returned to finish wrapping up his leg.

"How'd you know I went on a date with him?" Miwa asked, shooting Sadie an evil look.

Sadie frowned and shook her head at her in response. She hadn't said a thing. Not even to Donnie.

"So you _did_ go on a date," Leo said, smirking at her.

Miwa glared back at him.

"Well, we probably should check this guy out," Raph said. "Make sure he understands what's expected of him if he's dating our sister."

"No," Miwa said, turning her glare to Raph's smirking face. "No threats. You are to be on your best behavior."

"No promises."

"I'm really sorry for worrying you," Akito said suddenly to the room in general.

They all stopped their teasing and turned to him. Akito still clutched Machi's hand and had his chin nearly touching his chest as he eyed the floor instead of his family.

After a moment Donnie's voice broke the silence. "Well, you wouldn't really be a Hamato if you didn't run off now and then and force us into a really dangerous situation in order to find you. Not that I've ever done that," Donnie said with a small grin on his face.

"Yeah, me either," Miwa said, doing her best to look innocent.

"Really?" Machi asked, her eyes wide.

"Don't get any ideas, kiddo," Raph said, shooting Machi a pointed look. "Yer brother is still in big trouble."

"Your dads aren't angels, either," Donnie muttered.

Leo exchanged a quick glance with Raphael.

"Maybe I'll just bring Machi back upstairs and see if she can sleep now," Miwa said, giving Machi's hand a quick tug towards the elevators.

"So I'm good to go for now?" Leo asked, pushing himself off the table and gingerly standing back on his injured leg again.

"If you must," Donnie said. "But you come right back here when you get home for the pain medication."

* * *

Leo let Raphael drive them back to the Shredder's old headquarters. He refused help from both Raph and Akito when they arrived and the three walked silently back into Stockman's lab where they found Fishface searching through the cluttered lab table.

"I believe this is what you're looking for."

Fishface spun around to face Leonardo behind him. Leo held up a small vial full of an orange liquid.

"I bet yer employment opportunities could include something other than _henchman for evil asshole_ if you weren't a fish anymore, huh?" Raphael said, crossing his arms.

Watching his fathers in action made Akito very happy to be on their side, although he shuddered a little as he thought about how much trouble he was currently in.

Xever eyed the two turtles. He knew better than to trust the ninjas' easy stances and calm faces.

"Would you be interested in making a deal with us?" Leo asked.

Xever hesitated for only a moment before his eyes were drawn back to the container in Leo's large green fingers before asking, "What kind of deal?"

"We will give you this retromutagen that _Donnie_ made," Leo said, "and you can become a human again."

"In exchange for what?" Xever asked quickly, not taking his eyes off the retromutagen.

"You leave our clan alone," Leo said.

" _And_ , you pick a new career path that doesn't involve breakin the law," Raphael growled.

Xever glared at Raphael for a moment before turning back to Leo. "I think that sounds like a fair deal."

Leo took a few steps toward him but didn't have far to go when Xever rushed forward with his hand already out for the small vial. Leo handed it over to Xever but then caught him off guard as he grabbed Xever's wrist and twisted it quickly, trapping Xever in a tight hold.

"We also have this other special formula created in Donnie's lab," Leo said, as he lifted another small vial from his belt to show Xever. Xever glanced at the vial of green liquid but then his eyes moved back to Leo's intimidating face.

Raph smirked as he watched Xever's eyes widen under Leo's fierce blue eyed gaze.

"It's a special _permanent_ mutagen. And if you go back on your part of the deal, we'll find something really fun to mutate you with and make sure you're stuck that way. Forever. Understand?"

Xever nodded.

Leo released his arm and stepped back. "Well, then. What are you waiting for?"

Xever looked back and forth quickly between the three others in the room. Then he lifted the vial and dumped the contents into his large mouth. His body twisted and he groaned as his head shrank while his human legs pushed out through his changing body. His metal legs fell to the side and he attempted to push his human feet against the floor and stand, only to quickly fall as his legs wobbled from lack of practice.

He stared at his human body for a moment from where he sat on the ground before he lifted his face to actually _thank_ the turtles. His head turned quickly as he looked around the now empty room. One of the turtles must've thrown a duffel bag by his feet before they left and Xever tentatively opened it and peered inside.

He smiled at the turtles' forethought and was willing to forgive them for giving him jeans and a hockey jersey that had clearly belonged to the hockey stick man.

"Oh, I have missed you," he said to the clothing.

* * *

They made a brief stop in the lab when they returned home so Leo could finally get his pain medication and Donnie and Sadie could report that so far all the tests they had run were coming back clean.

Unable to watch Leo limp around any longer, Raphael slung one of Leo's arms around his neck and helped him back up to their apartment. They sent Miwa home, checked on sleeping Machi and then sent Akito to bed after they had hugged him a few more times.

Raph deposited Leo in their bed and watched as Leo's eyes slipped shut while Raphael was removing the leader's gear. He pushed his own gear off as well and crawled into bed next to Leo.

Leo's eyes flashed open when he felt Raph's hands on him, but he allowed Raphael to pull him into the emerald turtle's side for sleep.

"Are ya still mad at me?" Raphael whispered to him.

"Too tired to be mad at you," Leo mumbled as he adjusted his head on Raph's shoulder.

"That's not a no," Raph pointed out.

Leo forced his eyes open so he could look at Raph's face. "Are you still mad at me for inviting Usagi to search with us?"

Raph shook his head quickly. "He needed to be there to help look for his niece."

Leo shifted himself further up the bed so that he could nuzzle his face into Raph's neck and rest his injured leg across Raph's legs. "I'm not mad at you anymore either," he murmured.

"Kiss me," Raph said down to him as he jostled Leo's shoulder a little.

Leo could already feel the drowsy effects of the pain medication, but he smiled and lifted his face in order to gently meet Raph's lips.

Raphael sighed in relief as he pushed away the images of unconscious Leo with a bleeding leg and Stockman's needle going into Leo's arm. He reveled in the fact that he now had his arms wrapped safely around Leo.

Leo tucked his head back into Raph's neck and whispered, "Love you," as the medication pulled him into sleep.

"Aishiteru," Raph whispered back even though he could tell by Leo's relaxed muscles and even breathing that he was already asleep. His arms tightened around Leo and he kissed the side of Leo's face before he let his own eyes close as well.


	19. Chapter 19

The next morning, without even asking for Leo's opinion since he was sure he already knew what it would be, Raphael began packing the family back up to return to their island beach house. He quickly asked who else in the clan wanted to come and wasn't surprised when almost everyone decided join them. Only Donatello and Sadie were opting to stay behind.

Later that morning, Raph headed down to Don's lab to get more of the burn cream Leo would need on their trip and to ask the genius why he wasn't coming.

"Sadie and I have another appointment to go to," Donnie said, lifting his goggles from his face to dig through the first aid kit for the cream. He finally found it out on the counter where it had been left the night before. "But then we'll meet you there." He handed the cream over to Raphael along with a bottle of pain pills. "Just keep Leo out of the ocean because that salt will sting the shit out of his leg. And be careful with that wound in the sand. Maybe wrap it with plastic or something."

Raph nodded. He hadn't thought about Leo's injury being such a hindrance for the beach, but he knew how much Leo wanted to go, so he wasn't about to cancel the trip.

"How will you get there?"

"I'm sure I have some invention somewhere that can make the trip," Donnie said, grinning at Raph over one of his machines in the lab.

Raph chuckled and headed back up to his apartment to finish packing. He found Machi napping on the couch with her tail wrapped around Akito's arm as he sat next to her and read a book.

"She's keepin close tabs on ya, huh?" Raph asked with an amused smile on his face.

"Yes," Akito said with a light sigh. "I drew the line at the bathroom, though."

Raph watched as Leo limped out of the kitchen with a cup of tea and waited until Leo sat in a chair opposite Akito before he took a seat in the final chair in the room. When he and Leo had woken that morning, their conversation had quickly moved to Akito and what they should do in response to Akito's voluntary disappearance.

Akito looked up and slowly glanced back and forth between his fathers before biting his lip and closing his book. He had been dreading this conversation.

"Have I mentioned how sorry I am?" he asked with earnestly-raised eyebrows. He kept his voice low and hoped that Machi would sleep through this.

Leo sighed and glanced over at Raphael. They wanted to get this conversation over with before they left for the island, but they really just wanted to get this conversation over with period. Neither of them had been looking forward to it. But they both knew that part of their dread was that since Akito was usually so well-behaved, they'd never really had to discipline him before. Raph had scowled at Leo that morning as Leo, who had been sprawled out on top of him, had suggested that maybe they ask Master Splinter for pointers since he'd had so much experience disciplining Raphael.

"Look, buddy," Leo said, "we know you're sorry. And we appreciate you voicing it. You don't have to keep apologizing to us. I think we're just shocked because we never expected anything like this from you."

"Why did ya run off?" Raph asked. They had a pretty good idea, but they also thought they should let Akito tell them his side.

"Well, Violet said that Mr. Usagi said that you weren't going to train them anymore," Akito said, looking over at his dad. He still wasn't clear on why the bunnies' ninjitsu training had been canceled, but even now his dad's face didn't show any reaction. "I love Violet," he said to them, keeping his voice steady.

He wanted them to know he was serious in this declaration. And he thought if anyone would believe him, even at his young age, that he could truly be in love with her, it would surely be his fathers who had told him in the past how much they'd always loved each other, even as children. He watched them share a look and knew immediately that they did believe him.

"But you don't know what its like to be away from her all the time," he continued. "I know you two weren't always _together_ , but you still lived together. You could see each other whenever you wanted. But Violet doesn't live in a room next to mine or even just in an apartment down the street. She lives in another dimension. I have to use a special phone to call her at designated times so she knows when to answer. And I was actually there for once, in her dimension, and had the best time with her at the amusement park. But to be suddenly told I wasn't going to see her anymore," Akito paused for a moment. "You would've hated that too," he finally ventured to say.

"We didn't say you weren't gonna see her anymore. Just that you wouldn't be seein her that day," Raph said, thinking back to the breakfast conversation they'd had only yesterday. He rubbed a hand down his face as he thought about how yesterday morning felt more like a year ago.

"And you should've come to us and talked to us about it. We will always listen to you, Akito. We certainly do understand how you feel," Leo said. "And we've done our best to work something out."

"You've worked something out?" Akito asked.

"Well," Leo said, thinking back to that morning when, thanks to Raph's urging, he had used Donnie's interdimensional phone to call and speak to the bunnies' mother. "Violet is currently grounded and not allowed to come with us back to the island." He watched Akito's eyes dip in disappointment. "But, she and her siblings will be back in the dojo for training when we return." Leo smiled when he saw Akito's eyes fly up to meet his again. "Their mother would like them to continue their training and she agreed that they are all old enough to transport themselves back and forth, as a group, between their house and our dojo without their uncle's assistance."

Akito smiled in return, hope soaring through him now that he finally knew when he would be allowed to see Violet again. "Thank you," he said. He held onto the happy feeling as he began to speak again. "So, Violet was grounded as punishment. What about me?"

"Well, cartin ya off to the beach is probably sendin mixed messages," Raph said with a smile to Leo who grinned back at him. "But since there's no way we'd leave ya here by yerself and we could _all_ use another break already, yer comin."

"Plus, we love you, buddy. And we're very lucky to have you as our son. And we want to take into consideration all of your prior _good_ behavior. So I will say that I've got a good number of things up in the dojo that need to be sharpened and polished. And we're going to leave it at that."

Akito's eyes widened as he recognized the very light punishment for what it was.

"And listen," Raph said, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning towards their son. He spoke the next words slowly and in a low voice. "Yesterday, you were hit with a tranquilizer, locked in a cage, watched yer dad and I get locked in cages and then watched yer dad get injected with a retromutagen right after getting your own injection." Raph shot a glance at Leo and watched as Leo nodded to him. They had both brought up concerns with each other earlier about Akito's reaction to yesterday's events. "We both just want you to know that if and when you want to talk about what happened, not only are we here, but really anyone in the family would be more than willing to talk to you about it."

Yesterday's events did sound pretty terrible when his pops stated it all so plainly like that. He hadn't even had time to consider what had happened since he'd been too busy missing Violet. But he appreciated their concern and nodded his understand. "If yesterday starts to bug me, I will talk to you guys."

Raph nodded back. "Ok, then." He stood from his chair and squeezed Akito's shoulder before heading into the kitchen. "I'm going to make lunch before the family basketball game this afternoon." They couldn't head to the airport until it was dark so they were going to try to keep themselves busy until then.

Akito turned back to his dad. "I've heard lots of stories about the things you four did as teenagers. And even though I'm only a year younger than you all had been when you first went topside, I don't think I really realized until now how dangerous and _real_ those missions were."

Leo nodded. "It would probably all sound pretty far-fetched to me as well if I hadn't lived it myself, especially since I know how Michelangelo tells stories."

Akito chuckled. He hadn't mentioned that it was Uncle Mikey who had told him the stories, but he wasn't surprised that his dad already knew.

"I've been training you both since you were little, because I wanted you to be able to protect yourselves. But, Akito, I would like a different life you and Machi," Leo said.

"I know, dad," Akito said, nodding. He kept his mouth shut after that. Now was not the time to bring up his wish to join Miwa and her ninjas on patrols through the city in the future. He had a few years before it would be time for that conversation.

* * *

Sam's mouth dropped open when he left the Hamato Engineering lab and found Miwa outside waiting for him. Miwa in tight jeans and a leather jacket. Miwa sitting on top of a motorcycle.

Her helmet sat in her lap and she smiled when she saw her red-headed scientist gaping at her. She'd sent him a text earlier and just asked him to meet her outside at noon for a lunch date. She lifted her spare helmet and held it out to him as he approached her.

"Have you ever been on a motorcycle before?" she asked, although she was pretty sure she could guess the answer.

He shook his head and gingerly took the helmet.

"Well, all you really have to do is hold onto me and lean when I lean."

Sam smiled and shrugged his shoulders as he put the helmet on. "Well, if you're going to force me to keep my arms wrapped around you during my lunch break today, there's not much I can do about it."

Miwa smiled as he climbed on behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked her.

"Somewhere you've never been," Miwa said before she revved the loud engine. She'd asked Raphael to make it as loud as possible and he'd definitely come through for her.

She sped through the city streets until she came to a quieter part of town and hit a button on the handlebars to raise a secret sewer entrance. She felt Sam's hold on her tighten as they went underground and she became glad for the loud engine for a different reason since it would keep Sam from questioning her before they reached their destination.

After skillfully moving them through the underground tunnels, Miwa finally turned one more corner and parked the motorcycle. She pulled her helmet off and climbed off while keeping her eyes on Sam.

Sam slowly removed his helmet. He could feel Miwa's eyes on him but couldn't return her gaze because his eyes were pinned on the basketball game in front of them. He recognized Sadie and could see a couple other humans involved in the game. But his eyes were mainly drawn to the turtles who were currently laughing as they teased and shoved each other on the court.

Sam swallowed. Miwa obviously knew what was going on here and he trusted her. So he did his best to look calm as a giant turtle with a blue bandana around his eyes, a large bandage around one of his legs and what Sam was pretty sure were _swords_ strapped to his back limped over to them from the sidelines.

"You must be Dr. Chaplin," Leo said, trying not to smile at the man's obvious discomfort. So far, at least, he wasn't running away screaming. He turned to Miwa. "Did you warn him he was about to meet the family or just spring it on him?"

Miwa smirked back at Leo.

"You're terrible," Leo said, shaking his head at her before he turned back to the human.

Sam looked to Miwa as well and got an apologetic shrug from her. "It's my own fault," he said, proud of how steady his voice sounded despite his current shock. "I told her there was no way she could tell me anything about herself that would shock me. I had no idea she'd take the challenge so seriously."

"Its best you learn at the beginning to never ever challenge her on anything," Leo said.

"Like yer one to talk," Raph rumbled as he came up beside Leo.

"Did you say family?" Sam asked as the other two giant turtles, making four total, came over to stand with them. He quickly noted the weapons each of them carried.

"Sam," Miwa said, "I'd like you to meet my brothers."

Sam nodded. "These are your _not lightweight_ brothers, huh?" he murmured over to her.

Miwa laughed. "Unfortunately, yes." She moved down the line and introduced each turtle by name to Sam, starting with Leonardo and Raphael and then watched again as his eyes widened when she came to Donatello. She thought he might be nervous to meet his boss for the first time. But instead, she watched him practically start drooling over the family genius.

"It's so nice to meet you face to face," Sam said, his face lighting up as he tightly gripped Donnie's hand to shake it. "I can't tell you how excited I am to be working for your company."

Raph rolled his eyes when Donnie grinned over at his brothers.

"Hey now, don't blow his head up too much, dude," Mikey said. "He already makes us tell him at least once a week how much we like his inventions. I'm Mikey, by the way. I'm the fun one."

Sam grinned over to Mikey and shook his hand as well.

"And this is my father," Miwa said as she watched Master Splinter also join them from the sidelines.

He figured his body was having some kind of reaction to the shock of already speaking with four giant turtles and that was what was keeping him from visibly freaking out as a giant rat walked over to them. He looked closer at the rat, his eyes rising over the reddish robe he wore until his eyes reached the rat's face. His facial expression looked rather stern but Sam noticed that his brown eyes held a rather amused expression.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hamato," Sam said, offering the rat a smile as well.

"And you as well, Dr. Chaplin," Master Splinter said. "I understand our family owes you much gratitude for creating the permanent mutagen. Your solution saved Leonardo's life last night."

Sam glanced at Miwa who beamed back at him and he forgot for a moment that he was meeting her family and focused on how happy he was to have pleased her. Then he glanced over at the turtles and watched as the blue-clad, sword-wearing turtle bowed slightly forward to him in thanks.

"It was my pleasure to help," Sam said, glancing at Miwa again before he turned back to her father. "And please, call me Sam."

"Well," said Master Splinter as he ran his fingers down his beard. "Since you are dating my daughter, you may stick with Mr. Hamato." He heard his sons snicker behind him and was pleased to see an easy smile on Sam's face as well.

"Will do," Sam said.

"He's doin better than I did when I first met Master Splinter," Casey said, laughing as he and the other humans walked over to them to be introduced as well.

"Anyone else?" Sam asked once he'd said hi to Sadie and met Woody, Casey, April and Shadow.

"Just our kids," Leo said, smiling at Sam's determination to remain calm. Akito and Machi appeared between him and Raphael.

"Who are foxes," Sam said with an even bigger grin on his face. "Of course they are."

"You play basketball, Sam?" Raphael asked. "Leo has to sit out due to injury and my team could use another player."

"Well, my lunch break is almost over," Sam said.

Donnie scoffed. "As much as I would like it if you got back to work on your current project, they haven't even told you that they plan on packing you up and taking you on our family's second vacation attempt later tonight. I suppose I have to approve the vacation time," he said dryly.

Sam quickly looked to Miwa again.

"Well, if you want to come with us," she offered. She watched his easy smile and quick nod and couldn't help smiling softly at him. "Great, so you can go home and pack after the basketball game."

Sam turned happily to the rest of the group. "So who else is on our team?" he asked Raphael.

* * *

Donnie and Sadie escorted the rest of the family down to the vehicles that night and said goodbye to them. They watched the vehicles take off in the direction of the airport and then shared a secret smile with each other before heading upstairs to grab their suitcases and leave for their own trip.

An hour later, they were back in Usagi's dimension and Donnie was steadily pacing by an open window inside the agency. They'd begun this process a few months ago and missed out on the amusement park with everyone else a few days ago to come back here and finalize some more paperwork. Donnie had never seen so much paperwork in his entire life.

But now that they were in the moment that they had been waiting for, Donnie realized he was feeling extremely nervous. He glanced over at Sadie who sat on one of the couches. He was about to say something when the door popped open and a large cat walked in with a huge smile on her face. Donnie watched her walk directly to Sadie and place a bundle in his wife's arms.

Sadie's hands trembled slightly but she gasped and happily accepted the bundle.

"You can stay in this room as long as you'd like. But you're free to leave as a family of three whenever you're ready to go," the adoption counselor said before she silently left them alone in the room. It was much later than they normally kept the agency open, but they'd made a special exception tonight for their out of town guests.

"Oh, Donnie," Sadie whispered after the cat was gone, "look at this face."

Tears slid down her own face as her eyes rose to meet his and he saw the immediate love she had spoken of when she described her hopes for meeting their child for the first time. He pushed back his worry that she was sacrificing a _real_ adoption of a human child and quickly realized that this was very much a real adoption.

Sadie watched Donnie's face and saw him push his previous, foolish unvoiced worries away and quickly cross the room to sit next to her. She fell in love with her turtle husband all over again as she saw his expression soften when he peered down at their son's sleeping face. He lifted one hand and gently ran a green finger down the side of the baby turtle's equally green face.


	20. Chapter 20

Leo could hear waves crashing as he woke. He kept his eyes closed as he breathed in sharply through his nose in order to enjoy the salty sea air mixed in with Raphael's scent.

They'd arrived very late the night before and had barely made it into their beds before they all collapsed. Leo didn't even want to know how late in the morning it was now. His muscles tensed as he thought about the things he should be doing. He began to wonder if Master Splinter had already risen for morning meditation and if he should get up to join him. Plus, he should probably check on their kids. He stayed there like that for a few more moments until he realized he lacked any and all motivation to move. So instead, he let his muscles relax once again against Raphael.

"Good," Raph rumbled over to him. "For a second I was worried I was gonna have to trap ya in a hold to keep ya here."

Leo's tongue reached out and swiped up Raphael's thick neck and he heard Raph hum in response. Leo shifted himself so that he was soon sprawled across Raphael's body.

"Watch yer leg," Raph said, while shifting himself slightly to adjust to Leo's weight and wrapping his arms around Leo's shell.

"Don't worry about my leg," Leo said into his neck. "Feels better already."

Raph huffed out a laugh since there was no way the injury could already feel better. "I still don't understand how you can't lie to save yer life in most situations but ya have no qualms with lying about the level of pain yer in. And I don't care what ya say, yer still not allowed in the ocean."

"Dr. Donnie isn't even here to enforce that," Leo said before trailing his tongue slowly up Raph's neck once again.

"Dr. Donnie said it will sting and I don't feel like listenin to ya complain," Raph teased while tilting his head to the side as he let his eyes shut again. He smirked when he felt Leo bite into his neck in punishment. "I'm not even sure I'm gonna let you on the beach near all that sand. Might just keep you in here. With me. For days."

Leo shifted himself to one side of Raph's plastron and let one of his hands trail over Raph's shoulder and down his muscular arm so that he could trace a finger over his own mark.

"What would we do for _days_?" Leo asked innocently as his finger moved again to trace the outline of Raph's beautiful bicep.

Raph chuckled as images of what he could do with Leo for a span of uninterrupted days filled his thoughts. He rolled Leo to his shell and loomed over him so that he could take a moment to look down at Leo's face. When Leo smiled up at him he returned the smile and lowered his face to cover Leo's mouth with his own.

A buzzing sound interrupted them and Leo poked Raph in the plastron. "Where'd you throw my belt last night?"

Raph lifted himself off Leonardo and reached off the side of the bed to pull Leo's belt up off the ground. He pulled the T-phone off the belt and handed it to Leo before settling himself back across Leo's plastron as Leo answered the phone.

"I don't even know if anyone else is awake yet, Don," Raph heard Leo say, although his real attention was focused on Leo's free hand as he felt it trail along the edge of his scarred shell.

"Okay, Donnie, _Okay_. I'll get everyone up and meet you up there," Leo said. He smiled apologetically at his favorite turtle before pushing them both up into a sitting position on the bed.

"What'd he want?" Raph asking, sighing heavily in disappointment over their new position.

"He and Sadie just landed over in that field. They want everyone up in the main room before they get here."

"Why?"

"He didn't say. But he sounds pretty excited."

Raph leaned forward and kissed Leo again. He pushed his tongue into Leo's mouth and tried to push Leo back down on his shell.

Leo laughed and resisted the push, forcing them to both remain sitting up. "Don will be at the house in ten minutes."

"Give me five minutes," Raph growled as he finally managed to push Leo back on his shell so he could start to trail his mouth down Leo's plastron.

* * *

Miwa answered the knock on her door and narrowed her eyes at Leo when she saw the goofy grin on his face. She shooed him upstairs to the main room after he explained why he was there and told him she'd wake everyone else up. If she wasn't in the mood for his sappy, love-sick face, she doubted anyone else would be.

She walked past her father's open door and knocked on Mikey and Woody's door with instructions to head upstairs. Then she went downstairs where she ran into Raphael who knocked on April and Casey's door as he walked by while carrying sleepy Machi and Shadow in his arms. She watched Raph flash her a wide grin as well and rolled her eyes at him before giving Akito a genuine smile as she watched him trudge along behind them towards the stairs.

She reached Sam's door and knocked. He hadn't questioned her last night when she showed him to his own room. Her father certainly seemed to appreciate their separate bedrooms. But it wasn't the only reason they weren't sharing a room. Bringing him here so soon after they had really just met was one thing, but she wasn't ready to push anything else.

Sam opened the door and she immediately smiled at his sleepy eyes and the way his red hair was sticking up at odd angles. She tried to bite the smile back when she realized she probably looked exactly like Leo and Raph and their dorky grins.

"Morning," Sam mumbled.

"Morning," she said, letting the grin take over her face anyway. "We've all been summoned upstairs to the main room. I'll meet you up there?"

Sam smiled back and nodded. He watched her turn and head for the stairs while admiring her pajamas. She wore a simple black t-shirt but her shorts had little foxes all over them. He wouldn't have known how funny they were before he met her niece and nephew the day before.

Miwa paused at the stairs to look back at him and shook her head and laughed when she caught him staring at her. She climbed the stairs and said good morning to her father first before she headed to the kitchen to steal some of Leo's tea.

Raphael was the one who took the time to brew Leo's tea every morning and he had grown accustomed to their father and Miwa mooching. He just hoped he had packed enough for this trip as he set out three mugs and ignored Miwa's self-satisfied smirk.

He carried Leo's tea over to him at the kitchen table, along with his morning dose of antibiotic and pain medicine, stole a quick kiss from Leo and then went back to the kitchen where Woody handed him a mug of coffee. It was relatively quiet in the room, despite the number of bodies. Everyone seemed content to find a spot, either at the table or on the couches, to just sit and wait quietly.

The calm quiet disappeared a moment later when Donnie and Sadie appeared in the doorway carrying a bundled baby turtle. The immediate, excited shrieking from Shadow and Machi woke the baby and Raph watched as his little brown eyes startled open. He didn't cry though, merely looked around for the source and Raph watched as Machi and Shadow crowded Sadie and Don in the doorway to peer up at the infant. The little turtle spotted them and his face lit up almost in recognition and he waved little green arms in response. The rest of the room laughed and Sadie and Donnie exchanged an almost relieved smile with each other.

"We wanted you all together so you could meet our son," Donatello said, grinning down at the baby boy in his arms.

"We've decided to name him Gabriel," Sadie said, running a finger around the curve of Gabriel's face.

Master Splinter approached them and Donnie wordlessly handed the bundle over to his father whose eyes looked a little misty as he carefully adjusted the baby turtle in his arms and smiled at the little face. Little green fingers reached up and tugged on the end of his beard and Master Splinter laughed before saying, "Your Uncle Raphael enjoyed that game as well when he was a baby."

Raphael began to scowl but it was quickly lost to a shiver as he felt Leo's fingers ghost over the back of his neck. He hadn't even noticed Leo move across the room to stand next to him and he looked at his mate now as Leo smiled at him in adoration. It was hard to be angry at any tease or any remark from anyone when he could see how much he was truly loved by his blue-eyed turtle. Leo tilted his head at him as if he could read Raph's thoughts, which, Raph realized, at this point in their lives, Leo probably could. Leo's mouth brushed against his cheek before he moved to place his mug on the counter. Raph watched him move silently across the room, despite the slight limp, to where their father stood.

Master Splinter gingerly handed the infant over to the current clan leader and Leo expertly adjusted the turtle in his arms and grinned down at him.

"Just wait till you see what this family has in store for you," he whispered down to just Gabriel, although he was sure Donnie who stood beside him could hear him as well. He looked up and smiled a congratulations to his brother before handing the small turtle back to him and Sadie.

The rest of the family moved in on them once Master Splinter and Leo backed away and Donnie suddenly wondered if having everyone meet Gabe at once was such a good idea as the large group swarmed in. He and Sadie watched Gabriel's face and since he didn't seem overwhelmed, they relaxed as well and endured as Gabe was quickly passed around the room so that everyone had their own chance to meet the little one.

Sam was surprised when Gabriel was passed into his arms by Raphael, but he quickly adjusted and felt a small twinge of happiness as he was once again pulled into Miwa's family. He noticed the little turtle yawn and quickly searched out Sadie and Donatello. Sadie had noticed it as well and she quickly crossed the room and scooped up the little one.

"We're going to take him down to our room for a nap," Donnie said. "Maybe you guys can find something quiet to do after breakfast?"

He heard Mikey chuckle but at least there were no protests.

* * *

"Akito wants to go for a run through the woods so I'm takin Mikey, Woody and Casey and goin with him," Raph said when he finally found Leo later that afternoon on their second floor deck reading a book. "Machi is down on the beach with Master Splinter, Shadow and April. I think Miwa and Sam are out there too."

"Okay," Leo said, letting his eyes roam over Raphael. He noted Raph's sais hooked on his belt, necessary even on vacation since they'd been ambushed last time they had gone into the woods. But then he let his eyes trail over Raph's face and down his arms.

Raphael watched Leo's eyes darken and growled at him, "Don't look at me like that right now. Our son is waitin." It probably wasn't the smartest move but he leaned forward anyway to kiss Leo. He felt Leo's hands land on his upper arms and squeeze tightly as Leo's tongue pushed its way into his mouth. "Yer a jerk," Raph managed to say into Leo's mouth.

"You're the one leaving me here," Leo said back to him.

"I'll be back in an hour or two. And I'm gonna come find you to follow through on this," Raph said, managing to untangle himself from Leo's arms.

Leo watched him disappear over the ledge of the deck and then scowled down at his bandaged leg. He headed upstairs to the main room where he found Donnie and Sadie cooing over baby Gabriel on one of the couches.

He leaned over the back of the couch and over one of Don's shoulders to smile down at the newest clan member. He reached a hand forward and let Gabriel grab hold of his finger. "That's a strong grip," he said to the baby turtle who smiled back at him before he released Leo's finger in order to throw both of his hands up in the air in unbridled excitement. He laughed along with Donnie and Sadie as he headed over to the kitchen cabinets.

"Donnie, what can I wrap around my leg to keep sand off this wound?" he called over his shoulder as he began to randomly open cabinets and drawers.

Donnie shifted his son over to Sadie's lap and paused to smile as she lifted Gabe up to cover his face with kisses before he moved into the kitchen himself.

"Sit," he said to Leo and pointed to one of the kitchen table chairs. He dug through the _appropriate_ kitchen drawer and pulled out a box of saran wrap. He crouched in front of Leo's leg, removed the current bandage, made a tsking noise when he saw how ugly it still looked and then began wrapping the saran wrap around Leo's calf. "I only want this on your leg when you're on the beach. It comes off as soon as you're inside in exchange for a fresh bandage. Have you taken all your pills this morning?"

"Yes, doctor," Leo said with half his mouth lifted in a smile.

"Good, now get out of here," Donnie said. He turned away from Leo to wash his hands at the sink but kept his brother in his peripheral vision. He watched Leo rise from the chair and move out of the room and was relieved that Leo didn't appear to be limping as heavily as he had been the day before.

Leo made his way back down to the first floor and over the small dunes to the beach. He ran into Sam and Miwa as they headed into the house.

"We told Mike and Woody to go on that run because we'd take care of dinner tonight," Miwa told him as they passed him.

"Do either of you know how to cook?" Leo called out behind him.

Miwa looked to Sam and shook her head. He grinned and shook his head back at her as they headed inside.

"I'm almost afraid to ask this now," Sam said a few moments later as he sat rocking in a chair next to Miwa out on the third floor deck. "But are there any other important things about yourself you'd like to share with me?"

"Wasn't meeting my family enough?" Miwa said, laughing.

"I'm just wondering how many more surprises I should be prepared for."

"You want all of it?"

He glanced over at her and saw her honey-colored eyes focused on him. He saw a level of vulnerability in them that he wasn't prepared for. It made him want to scoop her up and carry her off somewhere even safer than a beautiful family beach house on a deserted island. He stopped rocking, turned his chair towards her and leaned forward.

"Yes," he said. "Give me _all_ of it."

She swallowed at the intensity in those gray eyes. All of it. He wanted all of her. She nodded back at him.

"Well, my father was born in Japan. He was raised to become the leader of his family's ninja clan."

"Ninja?" Sam said, thinking quickly to the weapons he'd seen her turtle brothers wear.

"Yes," Miwa said, smiling at his expression of wonder. He focused back on her and she began speaking again. She told him about her mother, about the rivalry between her father and Oroku Saki, her mother's death, how she'd been raised by the Shredder under the name Karai, and trained as a ninja for the Foot clan. She went on to explain how she'd eventually been brought to New York to battle the Hamato clan, who turned out to be four teenaged turtle brothers. She explained how hard Leonardo had worked to bring out the good in her and reunite her with her true father, who was now a rat.

The whole story, including Shredder's eventual demise, her disappearance back to Japan, and the Winter's incident which helped reunite her with her true clan, spilled out of her. She'd never told anyone, except her own father, so much about herself. She watched Sam listen with rapt attention. He barely even rocked in his chair as she spoke.

Over an hour had passed before she finished. She pulled her legs up into the seat of her rocking chair and hugged them to her chest. She stopped talking and merely looked at him, waiting for some reaction.

"And to think I was nervous about telling you that I have a tattoo of a beaver on my ass."

Miwa laughed. It began small in her chest but soon became louder belly laughs as she heard Sam's laughter join her.

"A tattoo of a beaver?" she finally said.

He nodded. "Tim the beaver. He's the mascot for MIT, where I went to grad school."

Tears sprang in Miwa's eyes as she continued to laugh. "That might be a deal-breaker for me."

"Hey, if I'm OK with mutant family members and ninja heritages, I think you can handle one little tattoo."

"I think I'll be the judge of its _size_ ," Miwa said, trying to get her laughter under control. She watched Sam's face turn bright red and she began to laugh once more.

"So my girlfriend," Sam said, watching her honey eyes spark up at him at the term, "is the ninja leader of the Foot clan?"

"Yes, but," she paused. Her thoughts wondered to her current project back at the Foot headquarters.

"But?"

"Well, I haven't mentioned this to anyone yet, but I've decided to get rid of the Foot. Not the ninjas themselves, but the Foot name and the emblem on their uniforms. When I first returned to take over the clan after Shredder's death, I enjoyed the fact that Shredder would roll in his grave if he knew that I turned his ninja into do-gooders. But," she paused and shrugged a shoulder. "I don't think I still need that kind of vengeful satisfaction. And I still need to talk to my father and Leonardo, but I would like the group to fall under the Hamato name from now on."

Sam reached over and pulled her hand into his. His logical brain had a hard time connecting the girl who'd been raised by an evil ninja leader in her story with the beautiful and funny girl in front of him.

"You're pretty amazing," he said to her.

She stood from her chair and re-seated herself in his lap. She smiled when his arms fit easily around her waist as she leaned forward and met him for a kiss.

* * *

Leo had fallen asleep almost as soon as he'd reached the beach earlier. When he'd first arrived, he could see Machi walking along the shoreline away from the house with April, Shadow and Master Splinter. He wasn't sure he was up to walking that far to catch up with them, so he settled his shell into the sand and lifted his book to read as he listened to the waves. But his eyes drooped almost immediately and he let his book fall onto his plastron as he dozed off.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep when he heard a single pair of footsteps approaching him. He had noted early on that the sand made its own unique noise when someone walked through it. He cracked one eye open to leisurely see who was joining him, hoping to see his favorite turtle, but startled when he saw who it actually was.

"What are you doing here?" he asked quickly.

"I need to apologize to you," Usagi said. He watched Leonardo stand up quickly, despite his leg injury, as a book fell into the sand, forgotten.


	21. Chapter 21

"I did and said some things to you the other night that were disrespectful and dishonorable and I'm ashamed of myself. I hope you can accept my apology," Usagi said. He paused for a moment and watched Leonardo's blue eyes examine him.

Leo didn't respond. If anything, he took a small step back. The last time Usagi had been this open with him, it hadn't ended well. He silently cursed Raphael for leaving him alone, which was ridiculous because how would Raph know Usagi would show up on their island? And more importantly, Leo reminded himself, he could take care of himself. But his thoughts still flew to the last time he'd been alone with Usagi. Leo had been caught completely off-guard and now, standing here alone with Usagi, he tried to shake off the extreme vulnerability that was creeping up his shell.

"I also wanted to say that I am happy to hear that you will still be training my nieces and nephews. I had just assumed that it would be your preference to break all contact with my whole family. I am sorry that my assumption led Violet and Akito to disappear the way they did."

Leo could see that Usagi looked truly remorseful. He turned himself towards the ocean so they weren't face to face anymore, but he kept Usagi directly in his peripheral so that he would see any movements the white rabbit made. The vulnerable feeling was beginning to make him angry, especially when he knew Usagi was counting on him to listen and directly forgive him, even though Usagi hadn't listened to anything Leo had said during that very uncomfortable night.

"Do you know what upset me the most about that night, Usagi?" Leo finally said.

Usagi thought for a moment. Unfortunately, there were quite a few things he could possibly name, including the bruise on the back of Leo's head that he'd noticed when they had been searching for the teens together.

Leo watched him and when it was clear Usagi didn't have an answer, he spoke again. "You didn't listen to a single damn thing I had to say about my relationship with Raphael. You completely discount it." He watched Usagi's eyes narrow at him before the rabbit turned towards the ocean as well. "What was that look for?" Leo asked. "Tell me."

Usagi didn't hesitate. "He deserted you during the search for your own son," Usagi said, his voice stressing each word. "Then, you had to stop looking for your son in order to look for _him_. You were ambushed in your search and _injured_. Now, granted, Violet and Akito were in that lab as well, so the end result was the discovery of our missing teens, but that was a lucky coincidence. As a teammate, he let you down. And as a lover," Usagi stopped and shook his head in disgust. "And yet, you still think he's perfectly suited for you. When he -,"

"You don't get to judge him," Leo growled, finally cutting Usagi off. He didn't get a chance to say anything else, though, because in the next moment an emerald fist connected with the side of Usagi's head before Raphael tackled him from behind.

One look at Leo's tense body posture when Raph had finally spotted him standing on the beach with the bunny and Raphael could see how uncomfortable Leo was. He supposed there was some dishonor in attacking someone from behind, but he pushed that thought away when he thought about Usagi's prior attack on his mate and the discriminating things the rabbit had just been saying about him to Leo.

Usagi was typically quite skilled in hand to hand grappling. But he grunted as he was shoved into the sand and soon discovered that he was no match for the pin Raphael had quickly placed him in, which was compounded by Raphael's bulky weight on his back.

"What are ya doin here, rabbit?" Raphael growled with his mouth close to one of the long white ears beneath him. He didn't lift his eyes to Leo and so far, Leo wasn't physically or verbally asking him to release the samurai. It was all the encouragement Raph needed to stay where he was.

"I was apologizing to Leonardo," Usagi said, trying to twist his arm out of Raphael's tight grasp. In response, one of the red-clad turtle's elbows pushed down on his shoulder from behind, forcing him to remain pinned to the sand.

"That's not what it sounded like to me," Raphael snarled at him.

Leo stood silently by for a moment. He was angry with Usagi as well but knew he was going to have to force Raph off of him. And soon, too, because although they were currently quite a distance down the beach, he could see Master Splinter, April and the girls turn and begin to head back towards the direction of the house.

"Raphael," Leo said. His voice was soft but he knew Raph would hear him.

"I want you out of here," Raphael growled at Usagi before he released the rabbit's arm and lifted himself up off of him. He didn't look at Leo when he stood but he turned his shell to the rabbit and moved to stand next to Leo. His breathing was ragged and he could feel anger heating his face as his fists trembled. One of Leo's cool hands suddenly gripped one of his forearms and he was finally able to take a deep breath and try to calm his breathing.

Usagi had hopped quickly to his feet and turned to Leonardo while glaring at Raphael's shell. "I think I have said all I came to say. I understand that we cannot be friends right now, Leonardo, but you know how to reach me if you need me."

Raph could feel Leo's hand tighten around his arm and Raphael had the urge to spin around and attack the rabbit again when he glanced at Leo's face and saw how openly angry Leonardo appeared in that moment. But Raph realized Leo was pulling strength from his presence as much as he was pulling strength from Leo to be calm. So instead of turning to strike, Raph lifted his other hand and quickly covered Leo's hand with it.

Leo felt Raph's warm hand over his and didn't say anything in response to Usagi before he turned and walked away.

"I'm sorry for interruptin," Raph said in a low voice.

"No you're not," Leo said plainly.

Raph's green eyes flashed back over to Leo and he found that Leo's face was blank of expression. His eyes moved past Leo's face and he spotted Master Splinter, April and the girls approaching them. He briefly wondered how much they'd seen of his interaction with the rabbit.

"I'm really glad you showed up," Leo said, bringing Raph's attention back to him.

Raph lifted one of his hands and let his thumb trace down the side of Leo's face. "You okay?"

"I will be," Leo said, taking a deep breath. He tried to force a small smile before saying, "because I have you."

Raph's arm moved around Leo's neck so he could pull him close. "Yer such a dork. But yer my dork," he whispered to him.

Leo quickly leaned forward and met Raph's mouth for a kiss right before he felt Machi plow into his legs and excitedly begin to show him the shells she'd collected.

Master Splinter sent Raphael an inquisitive look. Raph could tell that his father was really only asking if he was okay and was not actually asking him to explain what had just happened. He returned the look with a quick nod.

"If you need me, I'll be upstairs holding my new grandson," Master Splinter said, leaving them on the beach to head into the house in search of Gabriel.

"You two go pick up our sand toys," April said, herding Shadow and Machi away from them before she turned back to Raph and Leo.

"How much did ya see?" Raph asked dryly as he recognized the determined look on April's face.

"Enough that I had to explain to the girls that you were merely _playing_ with Mr. Usagi," April said. "I'm not going to ask you any questions, especially since I can probably guess what happened. But are you both alright?" She watched them both nod at her as the girls rejoined them with their bucket of sand toys. "Well then, I guess its time for everyone to be brave as we go find out what Sam and Miwa put together for dinner."

* * *

When the entire family reached the third floor for dinner, they did not expect to see freshly delivered pizza waiting for them.

Leo looked to Miwa with a raised eye ridge, as Mikey lifted her in a bear hug, and she managed to say, "Sam and I got distracted-,"

"TMI," Mikey said, setting her down on the ground to bounce into the kitchen for plates.

"- _talking_. And it turns out neither of us can cook. So I may have sent the ninjas staying out on the jet for a pizza run."

"You sent the jet out for pizza?" Casey asked, laughing as he chose to forgo a plate and scooped a large piece of pizza out of one of the boxes. "I love this family."

April elbowed him and handed him a plate before she pulled a slice for Shadow and sat her down at the table next to her dad.

"Where's Little G?" Mikey asked, excitedly, searching the room until he found Sadie and Donnie at the other end of the long table with Gabriel. "It's time for his first bite of pizza!"

"He can't eat pizza yet, Mikey," Donnie said, not taking his eyes off Gabriel as he watched Sadie feed him a bottle. "Formula only for a while."

"Not even pizza-flavored formula?" Mikey asked in a sing-song voice. "There's a blender out in the kitchen, bro. And I bet I'll be his favorite uncle after he gets a taste of that!"

"No," Donnie said, finally raising his eyes to his little brother's face to give him a stern look despite the smile that was trying to creep onto his face.

"I'm sure he'll love all your cooking, _later_ ," Sadie said, smiling as well.

Woody laughed as he pulled Mikey into a seat next to him. He let a hand slide up Mikey's leg under the table and grinned at him until Mikey lost the pout and turned his full attention towards him.

"We're always out serving other people dinner with the truck," Woody said. "We rarely get to sit and eat dinner together."

Mikey nodded and scooted his chair a little closer to Woody. "When we _are_ home for dinner it's to serve Sunday night dinner for this group. Maybe we should pick our least busy night with the truck and just stay home that night instead."

"No customers. No family."

"Just us."

"Love it, Mike," Woody said, grinning as he watched Michelangelo swallow a churr and narrow his eyes at him when Woody pinched the extra-sensitive skin at the top of Mike's leg.

"You're in big trouble when we're alone," Mikey murmured over to him.

Woody chuckled. "Bring it on, big guy," he murmured back.

"You guys hoggin the plates?" Raph asked as he leaned over them and grabbed enough for his family. He filled them with pizza slices and dropped them in front of Leo, Machi and Akito before he sat himself down next to Leo. He glanced over at Leo and noted that although he was talking to their son about the sights Akito had seen during their run through the forest earlier, Leo looked distracted. And uncomfortable. There was a slight, tense shift of his muscles with every move and Raph could hear an unfamiliar strain in Leo's voice.

He glanced across the table and could see Master Splinter examining Leonardo. Raph could tell their father could see the differences as well. He watched Master Splinter slide his eyes over to him and Raph gave his father a quick subtle nod, assuring him that he would take care of Leo.

"I think tonight is a perfect night for a beach bonfire," Master Splinter said, rising to throw away his plate.

"And we brought supplies for s'mores," Woody said, jumping up to grab what they'd need from the kitchen.

"Machi, will you help me roast marshmallows?" Miwa asked, holding her hand out for her niece who quickly jumped up and excitedly took her aunt's hand.

Raph reached over and gripped the top of one of Leo's thighs, holding him in place as the rest of the family cleaned up their plates and quickly made their way outside. He made a show of eating the pizza he still had on his plate so no one questioned them when they didn't immediately follow.

Leo looked at him with a raised eye ridge once they were alone but Raph didn't say anything. He stood and pulled Leo up as well to lead him downstairs and into their room where he closed the door behind them and then leaned his shell against it. He watched Leo stop to stand in the middle of the room, his face blank.

"What's got ya angry, Fearless?" Raph finally asked in a low voice.

"What makes you think I'm angry?" Leo asked in a level tone.

"You think I don't recognize anger?"

Leo stood silent.

"Is it because you asked me not to attack the rabbit and I attacked him anyway?" Raph finally asked. His first instinct was that Leo was upset with him for not doing what Leo had asked. But he watched Leo's eyes lift to his face and watched the blank expression disappear as an earnest look replaced it.

"No, Raph," Leo said. "I really just didn't want you attacking him in his dimension."

Raph didn't have time to feel relieved as he watched Leo's arm muscles bunch again in discomfort. "Then what is it, Fearless?"

"It's stupid," Leo murmured as his eyes lowered to the wooden floor beneath his feet.

Raph stood still and waited. Keeping his hands off Leo when he desperately wanted to comfort him was difficult for him. So was standing still and being quiet. But he forced himself to stay where he was. He wanted to give Leo time to think.

"I am angry," Leo finally said. "But I'm angry at myself. I've been thinking about that night with Usagi in the alley and now again tonight. What kind of ninja gets caught off guard so easily?"

"The kind that trusted that he was with a friend," Raph growled, his own mind picturing Leo trapped in that alley.

"I saw him earlier and instead of feeling immediately angry like you would've, or like I probably should've, instead I felt-," Leo paused for moment and swallowed. "Vulnerable," he finally said, shaking his head in disgust.

Raph finally shoved himself off the door and immediately wrapped his arms around Leo. He began to whisper fiercely into the side of Leo's neck, "Of course you did, Leo. He _attacked_ you. And he wasn't some bad guy where you would've known to have yer guard up. You trusted him." He pulled his face back far enough to be able to see Leo's face again. "It's not stupid," he said with emphasis. He watched as Leo still kept his eyes focused down on their floor. "I should've stayed back and let _you_ deck him. You'd probably feel a whole lot better right now," he added and watched as a small smile finally appeared on Leo's face.

"You didn't punch him just because you saw him standing there," Leo said, finally lifting his arms to return Raph's hug. He hated that Raph had heard the nasty things Usagi had said about him. "He had no right to say those things about you."

Raph huffed out a small laugh. "Stop tryin to comfort me. I'm comfortin you right now." He felt Leo's face press into his neck as Leo huffed out a small laugh as well. "Besides, I know some of what he said was true. I just didn't like hearin it comin outta his mouth."

Leo lifted his face and frowned at Raphael. "Not true, Raphie," he said. "And considering he was the cause of your extra stress, he certainly doesn't get to criticize."

Raph rested his forehead against Leo's and took another deep breath. "Can we forget about the rabbit for the rest of the trip at least? I don't want him spoilin yer beach."

Leo moved his face the inch or so necessary to cover Raph's mouth with his own. "Nothing is going to spoil this beach you've given me, Raphael," he whispered into Raph's mouth.

Raph pushed his tongue forward into Leo's mouth and quickly twisted it around Leo's tongue. He felt Leo's muscles relax against him and almost sighed in relief that Leo was willing and able to let go of the moments with the rabbit and focus here. On him.

"You want to join everyone else for the bonfire?" Raph murmured to him as he trailed his mouth down to Leo's jawline.

"Need s'mores of you," Leo said and grinned widely as he watched Raph throw his head back and rumble out a loud laugh.

"Aishiteru, ya dork," Raph said, focusing his attention back to Leo's smiling face.

Leo pushed his hothead backwards so that Raph fell back on their bed. He quickly followed and climbed on top of his emerald turtle. "I wasn't kidding," Leo said, a small smirk still on his face. "And I love you too, Raphie."

Leo smiled softly down at his favorite turtle. He rubbed his lower plastron against Raphael and was pleased when he felt Raph's hips already rising to meet him.

"You think we'll be missed down on the beach?" Leo asked as he sped up the rhythm with his hips.

"They should know better than to come lookin for us by now," Raph said, chuckling as he reached his hand down to curl his fingers around Leo's tail.

"I don't think we've ever had this whole house to ourselves before," Leo husked down to him, closing his eyes to enjoy the fingers fondling his tail.

"Is that yer way of tellin me its okay to be loud?" Raph asked before he openly moaned at the feeling of Leo rubbing against him. He pulled Leo's face closer to him so that he could run his tongue over Leo's neck. "Cause I'm gonna want to hear you too."

"Raph," Leo groaned out as he felt Raphael's fingers move away from his tail and push into his entrance.

Raphael groaned as well as the bulge growing in his lower plastron grew uncomfortable. Leo recognized Raph's expression, especially since his own discomfort was growing as well. He let himself drop down and rolled them to their sides so that when Raphael dropped down a moment later, he could pull both of them into his palm and begin stroking them together.

"Oh, yes Leo," Raph groaned out as he adjusted himself in their new position and continued to move his finger into Leonardo.

Leo's eyes popped open and he gasped out Raph's name a moment later when that finger brushed across his sensitive bundle of nerves. Raphael groaned in response as Leo's fingers tightened around them and his wrist sped up.

Raph quickly hoisted himself up onto his hands and knees over Leo. "If you don't cut that out, we're gonna be finished here real soon."

"Your fault," Leo muttered back, his darkened blue eyes staring up at Raphael looming over him. He panted as he took in Raph's emerald face. Those green eyes shining in their darkened room. The muscular arms that easily held the bulky turtle up above Leo. Leo shifted himself onto his shell and lifted his hips towards Raphael.

The movement pulled Raph's attention away from Leo's darkened, lust-filled blue eyes. "Eager, Leo?" he teased. He watched Leo scowl at him and made it up to him by covering Leo's mouth and quickly twisting his tongue greedily around Leo's. He placed one of his palms gently against Leo's neck and then teased Leo again by slowly sliding it down his plastron.

"Raph," Leo groaned out, lifting his hips again, desperate for contact. He practically sighed in relief when he felt Raph's own hard shaft begin to press into him. He wrapped both of his arms around Raph's shoulders and pulled him down in order to kiss him.

"Leo," Raph groaned out before he slumped down on top of Leonardo, stilling all of his movements.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked. He nipped at Raph's jawline when Raph didn't immediately respond.

"Savorin," Raph said.

"Now?" Leo said, trying to shift his hips forward to force movement. "Right now is when you've decided to practice patience?"

Raph churred when he felt Leo's hips move and smiled when he heard Leo's responding churr. He lifted himself and began thrusting into Leonardo so quickly that Leo gasped in surprise and tightened his hold around Raph's broad shoulders. He threw his head back and began loudly moaning out Raphael's name repeatedly as he felt Raph begin stroking him at the same speedy pace that his hips were moving.

Raph sped up his already fast pace as he heard his name flying out of Leo's mouth. He watched Leo's face and felt Leo tremble beneath his moving palm. He dipped his head seconds before Leo's face flew forward to latch his teeth into Raph's neck and smiled as he felt Leo hold him in place by his neck.

He wasn't sure what pushed him over the edge in the next moment, whether it was Leo's muscles tightening around him, or the feel of Leo's teeth biting into his neck or the knowledge that he had just thrust Leo over the edge. But he didn't focus on it for long as he felt Leo let go of his neck and he was free to convulse over him before collapsing once again on top of his mate.

Leo panted for a few more moments as his fingers traced over the grooves in Raph's shell. "You take great care of me, Raphie," he said after a few moments. He opened his eyes and found Raph's green eyes staring back at him.

'I'll always take care of you," Raph whispered back. "Just like you take care of me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The end. Thanks for reading and please let me know what you thought of the story! The next story in this series is called "Legacy" and I'll work on putting up on this site next. I also wrote a prequel to this series called "Secret" and this might be a fun time to check it out as well. 
> 
> Also, I wanted to include a little something here as well about the picture of Leo & Raph I use for my profile photo and the cover art for all of these connected stories. That picture was a gift from the wonderfully talented Breathe2Life.  
> Please do yourself a favor and check out the original picture in all its glorious detail (its cropped a bit here). It can be found on Breathe2Life's profile on the DeviantArt site. It's called "Aishiteru ~ A Promise to you for Forever: LeoxRaph". And thank you again, Breathe2Life, for this gorgeous picture of our guys. It's still just as incredible to me now as it was the first day I saw it!


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